At the end of March, the Whangarei District Council met to discuss its Class 4 Gaming bylaws. The council was wanted to determine whether or not it would uphold the local sinking lid policy on poker machines. The issue was heavily debated at the meeting, but the council finally decided that the best course of action would be to continue reducing the number of pokies in the area.
The issue of removing the sinking lid policy was brought to the council by pokie officials and club staff. They proposed a new system that would introduce a cap on the number of pokies allowed in the area. However, the cap would allow for more than 20 new pokies to be introduced. The proposed change received 266 submissions from the community. 254 of the submissions opposed the idea of a pokies cap.
Most community members continue to support the sinking lid policy, and they were eager to express their opinions on the matter. “We want to congratulate the council for taking a principled stand by maintaining the strongest control they can have over pokie machines in our communities," says Tim Howard, spokesperson for the Whanagarei Gambling Action Group”.
Howard notes that the capped policy would not benefit the community, as residents want to reduce the number of pokies in Whangarei, rather than maintaining it. Under a sinking lid policy, clubs cannot take their pokies with them if the relocate and the games cannot be sold to other venues. Over time, the number of pokies in the area will decrease.
The hope is there is a link between the number of pokies in Whangarei and problem gambling rates. If there are fewer pokies in the area, then it is likely that there will be fewer problem gamblers. The policy will also complement the new federal pokie reform, which will introduce voluntary pre-commitment technology on poker machines across the country.
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