KEY POINTS:
Investigative journalists have exposed New Zealand casinos as hosting loan sharking, money laundering and other major criminal activities, a situation confirmed by a Department of Internal Affairs report.
When pressure was put on Internal Affairs Minister Rick Barker to have a full inquiry, he responded with a press release asking, "What is a loan shark?" The National Party, usually quick to accuse the Government of being soft on crime, is missing in action.
Is anybody else wondering what's going on here? Where is the outrage? Why do only the Greens and the Maori Party consider it a major scandal that criminal gangs have been having an uninterrupted party at the casinos?
When former employees at Christchurch's casino blew the whistle on loan sharking and money laundering it came as no surprise to the Problem Gambling Foundation or to the many families who have been devastated by the casino-based rackets.
For years clients have been telling us stories of criminal activities and standover tactics to recover loans.
We welcomed the excellent investigative journalism which has dragged the seedy side of the gambling industry into the light and we called for a public inquiry on the basis that clients had told us they did not have any faith that Internal Affairs would take their complaints seriously or protect them from their very real fears of retribution.
Barker has brushed everything aside and instead tried to divert attention to a debate on the definition of a loan shark.
He must be the only person in the country that doesn't know. Certainly the residents of the poorer suburbs in every town in the country are all too familiar with the parasites who gouge huge interest rates from desperate people.
Although the Asian population is well represented among the victims of casino-based crime, the department's report makes it clear the problem reaches beyond them. Gambling harm is particularly prevalent among lower socio-economic groups, people who have traditionally been loyal to Labour but who are now being wooed by National.
Yet on the subject of gambling-related crime there is no political sparring over who is toughest on crime, and neither party is making promises to protect vulnerable people from the gangs involved.
In Parliament, the Opposition spokeswoman on gambling, Sandra Goudie, has asked a mind-numbing 183 questions on gambling, but these have largely been confined to attacking the Ministry of Health and the agencies attempting to pick up the pieces left by a an uncaring industry.
She seems not at all concerned with problems in our casinos.
One complicating factor is government shareholdings in SkyCity. Large taxpayer investments in SkyCity may make the Government inclined to treat the company's problems cautiously in case cleaning it up results in reduced profits or a falling share price. The National Party risks offending shareholders - their natural constituency - if it is seen as taking the part of casino victims against a large corporate. It may think it is safer to keep quiet.
Both the major parties were gifted $60,000 by SkyCity for their last election campaigns.
What both parties need to understand is that organised crime and gambling harm at casinos is not going to just go away.
The casinos profit from money laundering. They do not have to return stolen money lost on their games to the rightful owners. Loan sharks ensure there is a constant supply of cash to be gambled away.
With such a powerful incentive to facilitate profits through allowing criminal activities, the role of government as a referee between competing community interests and shareholder returns is critical.
Only through the most stringent regulation and enforcement will the public interest prevail.
At present the referee is not keeping up with the play. Even if the most obvious criminal behaviour at the casinos is eliminated there is still the problem of a business that was supposed to bring sophisticated world-class entertainment for visitors to our cities deteriorating into seedy venues that get most of their income from low income people who gamble away money they cannot afford to lose on rows of pokie machines.
Casinos have a licensed monopoly in this country. We have a right to expect the highest standards of ethics and host responsibility from them. We now know that when casinos were allowed to set up here too little weight was placed on their international reputation for attracting criminals.
In the past three weeks more than 6000 South Auckland residents have made submissions to the Manukau City Council on its gambling policy review.
The idea that gambling brings benefits to our communities without imposing unacceptable social costs has been well and truly discredited.
Politicians who ignore the wave of public concern about the antics of the gambling industry do so at their peril.
* John Stansfield is the chief executive officer of the Problem Gambling Foundation
