$20 note limit for pokies from midnight

From midnight tonight pokie machines will not accept notes greater than $20 in an attempt to slow gamblers' spending.

The Department of Internal Affairs said the change was introduced in the Gambling Act passed last September.

Internal Affairs Gaming and Censorship Regulation Group acting director Keith Manch said that until now banknote acceptors took notes of any denomination.

Mr Manch said that Parliament decided to limit banknote acceptors to $20 as a way of slowing down how much money gamblers can put into gaming machines. It takes a machine about as long to scan and accept a $20 note as it takes a gambler to insert $20 in coins.

Gamblers using $50 and $100 notes gamble much faster than they can if they put coins into machines.

If any machines are found still taking greater denominations operators can be fined up to $10,000 per machine.

Also from tomorrow some venues will be required to apply for territorial authority consent. Those affected were venues that did not have a licence on October 17 2001, or that did have a licence but have been without a licence for six months or more since that date.

- NZPA