The
Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) has revealed a new gambling
amendment bill – which has gutted the Maori Party's original bill.
It will give the DIA more power to cancel or suspend
licenses for Class 4 or non-casino gaming machine venues, and will
increase the minimum rate of return to the community.
Internal Affairs Minister Chris Tremain says the
Government is taking a "moderate" approach to reforming Class 4 or
non-casino gaming machine venues.
The revised Gambling (Gambling Harm Reduction) Bill
announced today by Mr Tremain and the Maori Party's Te Ururoa Flavell
provides some of the provisions, albeit watered down, in the Maori
Party's original bill.
Meanwhile the Green Party's gambling spokeswoman Denise Roche says the bill does "nothing to reduce the harm from gambling".
Mr Flavell says despite the changes to his bill by
the Commerce Select Committee, "small steps in the right direction are
better than no change at all".
"We compromised, sure, there's no doubt about that but we thought it was better to get some gains then none at all," he says.
Mr Tremain says he hopes to introduce the new bill into the house by November for its first reading.
The bill seeks to restore the ability of the DIA to
cancel or suspend Class 4 licences. 'High trust' gaming venues will get
their licences extended to two years rather than one. It would also
strengthen the ability to address conflicts of interest and
non-compliance within the industry.
Venues with Class 4 licenses will have to increase
the minimum rate of return to the community to around 40 percent from
about 36 percent. The original bill would have required 80 percent of
gaming proceeds to be returned to community groups in the same area the
funds were raised.
Mr Tremain says the
Government agrees "in principle" that a minimum amount of funding should
go back into the community it came from.
The
same end can be met through regulation-making in the bill which will
allow more flexibility and consultation over the minimum amount, he
says.
The Maori Party's version of the bill
would have also enabled the DIA to mandate the use of "harm minimisation
devices" such as pre-commit cards and player tracking through gaming
machine operators' licence conditions. The Government says this can also
be done through regulation.
The original bill also allowed for councils to shut down or ban Class 4 or non-casino gaming machines.
Mr
Tremain, however, says the new bill will allow some Class 4 operators
to move their venues from low socio-economic areas to places such as
CBDs.
The Government did not support the part of
the Maori Party bill which would have required local councils to take
over the distribution of gaming proceeds to the community or which would
have removed funding from the racing industry.
Ms Roche says the Government's proposed reforms did not focus on harm minimisation.
"The changes announced today could actually lead to more harm from this industry."
"It
is simply unacceptable that the Government’s weak response to the
problems in the gaming sector will once again rely on how the gaming
industry reacts."
The legislation received more than 30,000 submissions.
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