“It is clear from the figures that the Hauraki District is not receiving its fair proportion of the gaming proceeds generated in the district,” the report said.
“This shows a significant ongoing issue of inequity between what is taken from the district and what is put back; although trusts argue that a reduction in gaming machines would result in reduced community grants in the district, it could be argued the community is only seeing a small percent of the possible benefit anyway.”
While the report said 40% of gaming proceeds were required to be returned back to the community, it did not quantify grants given to organisations that covered multiple districts or national bodies such as the National Heart Foundation or Search and Rescue.
They were not included, and it was unclear how much benefit Hauraki derived from the grants made to both district and national organisations.
From grant information provided by the Department of Internal Affairs, the amount of grants had increased from 12% in 2021 to 19% in 2022, and then increased to 22% in 2023.
A sinking lid policy had been recommended which would see the council move to a more restrictive policy, removing cap applications and preventing any new pubs or clubs from having pokie machines.
The council will meet on August 28 to discuss the 50-page report which includes a social impact assessment of gambling in the district.
The council’s gambling policy was last reviewed in 2020 and delayed in August 2023 by 12 months due to resourcing.
The report said Hauraki’s 2020 gambling policy was not a true sinking lid policy, rather a capped policy, at nine gaming venues and 69 machines across the district.
Due to the licenses held prior to the adoption of the gambling policy, there were nine venues with 119 machines.
While the number of gaming machines in the district was 50 more than the cap set out in the current policy, should venues and numbers of machines fall below the capped amount set out in the policy, new venues and gaming machines could be re-established.
Gaming machine proceeds, the profit made by the gaming machines, also known as player losses in the district, were $5,992,318 in 2023, $6,004,838 in 2022, $5,468,281 in 2021 and $4,588,127 in 2020.
In terms of the “causes” that were supported by the gaming machine grants, the sports sector received the highest value of grants ($847,703.92) for the January to December 2023 period.
This was followed by research and education ($327,430.84).
The biggest single grant recipient was Thames Valley Hockey Turf Society receiving $164,220
The next largest recipient was Hauraki North Rugby Football Club receiving $78,539.49.
For the community groups, the biggest overall amount went to Waihī Community Resource Centre which received $40,000.
The report said a true sinking lid policy would state that no venues with gaming machines (outside a casino) or TAB venues could be established within the district.
Research conducted by the Auckland University of Technology had shown sinking lid policies were one of the most effective policies at reducing gaming machine spending, helping reduce gambling problem expenditure by 13%.
Moreover, those territorial authorities that adopted restrictions above and beyond those mandated by the Gambling Act experienced less gambling harm than those who did not.
In the case of the Hauraki district, there had been no reduction in gaming machines in 13 years and no decrease in gambling expenditure, the report said.
“It would be difficult to draw any conclusion as to whether a sinking lid has a positive effect, a reduction in problem gambling, for the district when the number of machines and venues has not changed.
“Despite uncertainty about the known effect of sinking lid policies on the reduction of gambling-related harm, the recommended policy option from the Ministry of Health to suit a medium risk district is a policy with restricting locations or restricting locations and numbers of machines.”
Hauraki had a medium risk profile.
“This risk factor combined with the social impact information noted in the social impact assessment would support a sinking lid policy approach from the council.”
Councils in the surrounding area that had sinking lid policies included Thames-Coromandel District Council, Waikato District Council, Hamilton City Council, Western Bay District Council and Tauranga City Council.
