Time out for pokie venues to raise awareness of problem gambling

Charmaine Bulled of Westshore Beach Inn, Napier shows how to turn off a pokie machine. Photo / Warren Buckland.

Pokie machines at a dozen venues in Hawke's Bay will be turned off for one hour next week to raise awareness of problem gambling.

The move is part of the national "Pause the Pokies" initiative, and comes in the wake of new data from the Department of Internal Affairs that shows gamblers in Hawke's Bay lost nearly $10m, in the space of three months.

Te Rangihaeata Oranga Trust Gambling Recovery Service is part of the initiative which is being run nationally by the Problem Gambling Foundation, during Gambling Harm Awareness Week, which starts on Monday.

Tama Hutana from Te Rangihaeata Oranga Trust praised the positive response to this year's national theme from pokie venues.

"It's a testament to the venues participating for acknowledging the harm gambling can cause.

"Pause the pokies will give our community time to stop and think about their gambling and give our service the opportunity to offer tools to overcome this hidden addiction. I believe a solution to ending harmful gambling in Hawke's Bay lies in the partnership of gaming venues and our service."

Official monitoring of gaming proceeds from DIA shows that for the quarter ended June 2018, gamblers in Hastings lost $4.56m, while another $4.81m was lost to pokies in Napier and another $544,280 lost in Central Hawke's Bay.

Of the total $9.91 losses, $3.7m of that was lost in the Hastings Central ward alone.

DIA gaming proceeds figures counts the amount emptied from pokies (not including winnings) by operators.

Hutana said in Napier City, that was over $19m for the last 12 months to June.

"That's $440.69 per head of adult population, seventh highest in the country. The city has 290 pokie machines in 18 venues.

"In Hastings District, the amount was over $17 million. That's $332.82 per head of adult population.

"The district has 276 pokie machines in 17 venues."

The national theme for Gambling Harm Awareness Week this year is "take time out from gambling, put time into whanau" so gamblers will be encouraged to take a break from their gambling and connect with whanau, he said.

Westshore Beach Hotel manager Charmaine Bulled said the venue, which will turn it pokies off for one hour on Monday.

"It's all for the community and we're all for it."

A complete list of participating venues is available at www.pgf.nz/pause-the-pokies.html. Follow on Facebook www.facebook.com/PausethePokies/

Mike Knell, chief executive of the nation's largest gaming trust, NZCT, said the organisation was happy for its venue operators to take part.

"NZCT takes its responsibilities towards its patrons very seriously and supports any practical, positive initiatives to reduce gambling harm where we can."

Knell pointed out that in New Zealand 91 cents in every dollar played returned to players as prizes, something that differed from unregulated online gaming.

Proceeds from pokie machines (Class 4 gaming machines) can only be collected by corporate societies, (usually gaming trusts or chartered social an dsports clubs) licensed by Internal Affairs to operate pokie machines in clubs or in commercial venues (pubs and bars).

While class 4 gaming societies are legally required to return a certain percentage of proceeds back to the community, the Department of Internal Affairs points out that clubs like RSAs and Cosmopolitan clubs are authorised to used proceeds to further the running the club.

Knell said 90 per cent of all gaming proceeds was put back into local communities in the form of grants, while the remainder went to national initiatives.

"NZCT has returned $1.9 million to Hawke's Bay in the past 12 months that has provided enormous benefits to the local communities in many ways, especially through sporting entities and infrastructure investments, and supporting volunteering, essential rescue services and hospices through grant funding.

"We have recently established a regional advisory committee in Hawke's Bay to help our trustees ensure that locally raised funds are distributed appropriately to local community groups, especially amateur sporting entities."