Auckland's pokie policy under attack

The Problem Gambling Foundation has condemned a new Auckland City Council gambling policy which will create divergent regulations for new poker machine venues in different parts of the new Auckland Super City.

Auckland City has relaxed a tough "sinking lid" policy which has slashed the ratio of pokies to population by almost a third in the past six years, from a peak of 4.8 for every 1000 people in March 2004 to 3.3 for every 1000 at the end of last year.

Operators, who have been unable to transfer their licences from one venue to another when a bar closes or moves, will now be able to transfer their pokies to a new venue as long as they reduce the number of machines by at least one.

The new policy will be softer than those of Manukau and Waitakere, which still have sinking-lid policies and do not allow transfers.

But it remains tougher than in North Shore, Rodney and Papakura, which allow new venues as long as the total number of machines stays below the cap, and Franklin, which has no cap.

Problem Gambling Foundation chief executive Graeme Ramsey said it was a great shame that Auckland had not aligned its policy with Manukau and Waitakere to establish a common approach for the Super City.

"In the interests of consistency and ease of transition to the new Auckland Council, we have to ask why Auckland City has chosen to adopt a very different policy," he said.

"No other New Zealand territorial authority has used this relocation component of a sinking lid policy so it has not been tested in any way."

The new policy, opposed by City Vision but adopted on a party-line 11-4 vote by Mayor John Banks' team, will come into force on June 1.

A draft released last year attracted 3853 submissions, including 3690 postcards and pro forma submissions co-ordinated by problem gambling groups against the proposal to allow transfers to new venues.

But the councillor who chaired the panel that heard submissions, Paul Goldsmith, said the proposal was supported by a majority of community groups who depend on pokie funding, including the Cancer Society, St John Ambulance, Surf Life Saving and the Auckland Theatre Company.

"They are obviously weighing up that dilemma - is this a legitimate source of funds? - and know that if you turn this tap off people will still gamble online or in other places and nothing gets back to the community.

"So I think we have come to a very balanced view, which is retaining a sinking lid but being a little bit more flexible about the components."

He said it was not yet clear whether pokie regulation would be delegated by the new Auckland Council to local boards.