Pokies are a significant source of revenue for organizations and community initiatives across the country. While most of the funds derived from pokies go to good causes, some pokies trusts have been found to be abusing their responsibilities. The most recent case is that of The Infinity Foundation, which was recently required to suspend the operation of its pokies.
It was found that the organization had spent over $100 000 on grants that should not have been awarded. When it comes to pokies grants, there are very strict rules as to which organizations can claim them and the type of criteria they must fit. This is to ensure that certain organizations are not being given grants based on biases and that only worthy causes are receiving funds from the gambling industry.
The Infinity Foundation violated these rules by given funds to organizations that did not need to benefit from pokies grants. $40,000 worth of grant money was awarded to the NZ Liquor Industry Golf Association and the North Island Liquor Industry Golf Association, providing funding for tournaments and apparel.
The competitions were not open to the public, so they should not have been able to benefit from public gambling funds provided by The Infinity Foundation. Another group that claimed funds was the the Hawke's Bay Wine Country Tourism Association, which was given $10,000 for an advertising campaign. Due to its commercial nature, the campaign should not have received funding.
Pokies funding laws state that funds cannot be awarded to campaigns that promote tourism or benefit the interests of an industry group. Normally, when clubs have been accused of misspending funds, they make some effort to recover them and award the money to worthy causes. However, The Infinity Group has yet to make the effort.
According to local reports, the group has agreed to suspend its pokies for three days but will not attempt to reclaim the funds from Golf Association Groups or the Tourism Association.
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