Jury still out on more pokies for Whangarei

The jury is still out as to whether nine pokie machines will be allowed to operate in a new TAB at Okara Park.
Whangarei District Council-appointed independent commissioner Ken Graham presided over a hearing yesterday at which the mettle of the council's gambling policy came under scrutiny.
The New Zealand Racing Board, backed by the Trust Charitable Foundation which provides gaming machines, has applied to install pokies when it moves its Whangarei TAB into a new Settlers Tavern site at Okara Park.
Fighting the proposal is the local Gambling Action Group, which says the application flies in the face of the council's own 2004 policy that states no new-venue gaming machine licences can be issued.
And unwilling to make its own call on the matter is the council itself, which should receive Mr Graham's decision in two weeks.
Speaking in support of the Racing Board's application, Warwick Hodder said the Trust Charitable Foundation owned and ran machines in 113 TABs in New Zealand.
It already had a presence in Whangarei at the Cobb and Co Restaurant.
Mr Warwick described the foundation as having an "unblemished presence" in Whangarei, and said it put substantial amounts of money back into the communities its machines took it from.
The anti-gambling group said nearly $18 million a year was lost on pokies in the Whangarei District, and for every $1 put into a machine there was a further $3 impact on the community down the track.
The group's submissions argued that Okara Park was a family-focused shopping centre with bargain stores and a supermarket, making it an inappropriate venue for a pokie bar.
As well, the council's policy was clearly geared to community well-being, and based on the premise that gambling was not in the community's interest.
The anti-gambling group said the council's 2004 policy - developed after wide public consultation - was admirable in its commitment to controlling the growth of problem gambling.
The "sinking lid" policy clearly set out to restrict the number of machines.
Gary Hooper, on behalf of the Racing Board, said that Okara Park's high profile, high customer rate, accessibility and popularity were exactly why the organisation wanted pokies and a TAB there.
He implied that although the application was outside the council's current policy stipulations, the policy was fair game for challenge or review, and ultimately a variation.
Despite the arguments for and against the application, at the heart of the matter was whether the council's policy allowed for gaming machines licences at new venues, Mr Graham said.
"The issue comes down to Whangarei District Council's policy in relation to the Gambling Act, and whether there is sufficient reason to deviate from that policy," he said.