For years, the Anglican Church and the poker machine industry have been at odds over gambling grants. While pokie revenue provides generous donations to the Church, local diocese are concerned about profiting from gambling spending. Now, they have decided to stop accepting grants that have been funding by poker machine profits.
This week, representatives of New Zealand’s Anglican Church have voted in favour of rejecting poker machine grants. All parishes across the country will no longer be able to accept donations that have been derived from pokie spending. The proposal was originally made by Reverend Jolyon White. He believes that accepting pokie grants impeded on the Church’s ability to speak out against problem gambling.
While churches across the country benefitted from gambling spending, it would have seemed hypocritical for the Anglican Church to speak out against the potential dangers of gambling. The decision has been applauded by Tony Milne, who is the director of New Zealand’s Problem Gambling Foundation. He has assured the Church that the lack of pokie funding will not hurt their operations.
In fact, he notes that some organizations have noted an increase in donations after refusing to accept pokie grants. "People appreciate them taking a stand on the issue,” Mr Milne says. “Just because groups don't take pokie money doesn't mean their funding necessarily dries up”. The vote followed a disagreement between Pub Charity Chief Executive Martin Cheer and the Christchurch Cathedral.
He had refused funding to the property because Auckland’s Archbishop announced that local churches would no longer accept money from gaming trusts. However, his restrictions did not apply to churches in other cities. Cheer demanded that the Anglican Church take a unified position on pokie grants – and this seems to be it. He has yet to comment on the development.
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