With the highest spend per pokie machine in New Zealand, Porirua has approved a comprehensive sinking lid policy for all Class 4 Gambling Machine Venues. Porirua Mayor Anita Baker said she believed that the council’s funding structure was broken. Currently, the council takes funding from pokie machine profits to be able to afford various community services.
Spending on slot machines is too high, says Porirua’s Mayor.
©Erik Mclean/Unsplash
Porirua Council already had a sinking lid policy, however, after public consultation, they decided to expand it further. Porirua already did not allow Class 4 Gambling Machine Venues to increase their number of Electronic Gaming Machines (EGMs). Also, if a venue reduced their quantity of licensed machines for any reason, they couldn’t get them back.
The above rules will continue, and as from their recent Council Meeting on November 16th, venues will no longer have the option to bring gambling machines with them if they move. They will also not be allowed to merge their gambling machine licenses with other venues if two businesses were to join together in the future, for example.
A Question of Ethics
Also on the Agenda at the Council Meeting were questions regarding the ethics of allowing pokie machines to fund activities that Porirua Council is responsible for. This topic was brought up by respondents of the Community Consultation. The inclusion of an “Ethical Commitment” in the updated policy was voted on, but did not go through.
According to statistics, Porirua’s deprived and vulnerable population is high, compared to other regions. Addictions and other physical and mental illnesses are high in parts of the population, this includes Gambling Addiction and Gambling Harm. The ethical conundrum of profiting from the vulnerable within the community, to pay for services to all was aired in the forum.
When asked in an interview, the Mayor of Porirua claimed she did not know why Porirua had the highest spend per pokie machine in New Zealand. She only stated, “we have a high Maori and Pacific Islander population”. She then said, “I’d also like to know why we have the highest spend per machine”. From her response, it appears she acknowledges that Maori and Pacific Islander populations in New Zealand are more likely to have a lower quality of life than Caucasians but this was not clearly stated.
The Mayor did not address why Maori and Pacific Islanders in her region had higher ill health indicators than other regions. One can only hope that her statement, repeated twice, that she wanted to know why they have the highest spend per pokie in New Zealand, was earnest. Maybe she will indeed create a study or project around improving the issue of health, divided by racial lines, in her area.
After the topic was brought up in the Public Consultation, the councillors had time to research and think on the issue. The Council members voted to continue receiving funding and grants from EGM profits. All but one Councillor voted against an Ethical Commitment Clause being included in their new policy. As reasoning, the Council stated that the local school bus, servicing the most vulnerable children in their area would have to be axed if they did not have pokie machine funding to pay for it. Other popular events in the community were cited as being funded by pokies.
The lone dissenter, Councillor Josh Trlin said that the pokie grants were “…regressive…taking from the poor and giving to the well-off”. Though this is not necessarily the case in other regions, at least in regards to Porirua Josh appears to be correct. In Porirua at least, pokie grants are literally taken directly from the most deprived.
The Council received $400,000 in funding from pokies over the previous three years. They said if they stopped receiving the funding a Rates hike would be necessary, and they wished to avoid that. Calculations show that a paltry 0.22% rate increase would have covered the sum.
Rate hikes are unpopular and it can be assumed that the cost to the Councillors of taking the brunt of the displeasure of Ratepayers superseded their desire to holistically address the ill health being shown symptomatically in the form of Gambling Addiction in their region. Widescale inter-generational poverty and health issues would be a daunting task for anyone to take on.
It is perhaps understandable that the Councillors were too scared to open that particular can of worms during their tenure, though it is not laudable. Gambling Harm is established by research as being high in the region. Currently, Porirua has 156 machines across ten venues. The machines earned $15.8 million in the last financial year, $2 million higher than the previous year.
Eight of the ten venues are in areas classified as “highly deprived”. One could conject that the Council’s strategy is perhaps a waiting game. As gentrification of the highly deprived areas moves the low-income demographic to alternate and cheaper suburbs, gambling machine venues will not be able to follow them. If the venues move locale, they lose their pokie machine licenses. Class 4 Gambling Venues in Porirua will eventually no longer be located in highly deprived areas.
How long that would take was a sticking point for Councillor Duncan. Though Councillor Josh Trlin was the lone protagonist of the Ethical Commitment, there were two councillors who voted no to the whole policy. Councillor Duncan disapproved of the Class 4 Venues being forced to stay in the high-deprivation areas. If the venues were allowed to move and take their licensed gambling machines with them, town planning could assist in getting the venues out of high-deprivation areas quickly.
Councillor Leggett, the other “No” voter, stated that a local-only approach would not adequately address the issue. They said they believed a “nationwide approach” was needed. Currently, at every level of government, there is policy and action in place to address Gambling Harm. It can be supposed that Leggett disapproves of the country’s current approach.
If you or anyone you know needs help around the issue of problem gambling, head to the Manatu Hauora – Ministry of Health website for information and access to helplines and counselling services.
