{"id":19627,"date":"2021-06-30T15:06:44","date_gmt":"2021-06-30T15:06:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=19627"},"modified":"2026-04-23T18:05:02","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T21:05:02","slug":"new-zealand-district-aims-to-reduce-number-of-slot-machines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/new-zealand-district-aims-to-reduce-number-of-slot-machines","title":{"rendered":"New Zealand district aims to reduce number of slot machines"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mackenzie Council has approved a proposal to reduce the number of slot machines in the district.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">New Zealand.-\u00a0<strong>Mackenzie District Council\u00a0<\/strong>has voted to update its current law to<strong>\u00a0limit the number of slot machines, or &#8220;pokies&#8221; <\/strong>through the creation of a &#8220;sinking lid.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The process would mean that <strong>when a gambling venue closes it cannot be replaced by another<\/strong>, so the number of slots in the district will gradually be reduced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to local media reports, the Mackenzie District has only 36 gambling machines in operation and the council is processing consent applications for another nine. The limit is currently 65.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The proposal would ultimately <strong>lower the number of poker machines to 45<\/strong>. <strong>Councillor Stuart Barwood<\/strong>\u00a0said he would support the proposal, but only if it applies to businesses that close completely rather than change management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, councillor Matt Murphy questioned the need for slot machines. He said: \u201cI\u2019d argue that there are very few benefits to the communities within our district by having gaming machines.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The proposal passed after a 3-2 vote<\/strong>\u00a0and will go to a public consultation before coming back to the council to be formally adopted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Casinos\u2019 charity requirements to be reviewed<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In May,\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/new-zealand-casino-charity-requirements-to-be-reviewed\">the New Zealand Gambling Commission<\/a>\u00a0started to analyse casinos&#8217; charity requirements after noting that\u00a0<strong>some casino operators give only 0.7 per cent\u00a0<\/strong>of their profits to charity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The proportion of donations contrasts with those required of the <strong>operators of pokies\u00a0<\/strong>in pubs and clubs, which are required to give away around\u00a0<strong>40 per cent of their proceeds<\/strong>\u00a0as community grants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The casino charity requirement review was criticised by&nbsp;<strong>Andree Froude<\/strong>&nbsp;at the&nbsp;<strong>Problem Gambling Foundation<\/strong>, who said the New Zealand Gambling Commission should focus on ensuring casinos are delivering effective<strong>&nbsp;responsibility programmes<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to Stuff newspaper, she said: \u201cUsing gambling money to fund charities created<strong>&nbsp;a cycle of reliance<\/strong>, which happened with class four gambling (pokies in pubs, clubs and TABs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cNo amount of charity makes up for the harm caused by gambling, and&nbsp;<strong>we need to focus on where the money is coming from<\/strong>, often the most vulnerable in our society, and not where it is going.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mackenzie Council has approved a proposal to reduce the number of slot machines in the district.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"The Mackenzie District Council in New Zealand has approved a \"sinking lid\" policy to gradually reduce the number of slot machines, limiting new installations when existing venues close. Concurrently, the New Zealand Gambling Commission is reviewing the disparity in charity contribution requirements between casinos (0.7% of profits) and pub\/club pokies (40% of proceeds). This review has drawn criticism from the Problem Gambling Foundation, which advocates for a stronger focus on responsible gambling programs over charitable donations.","focusai_entities":"Mackenzie Council, Mackenzie District Council, Stuart Barwood, Matt Murphy, New Zealand Gambling Commission, Problem Gambling Foundation, Andree Froude, Stuff newspaper","focusai_location":"New Zealand, Mackenzie District","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.8), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (0.8), investor_analyst (0.7), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Sinking Lid Impact?","query":"What is the projected timeline for the Mackenzie District's slot machine reduction under the 'sinking lid' policy, and what are the anticipated economic impacts on existing licensed venues?"},{"label":"Charity Review Implications?","query":"How might the New Zealand Gambling Commission's review of casino charity requirements influence the broader regulatory landscape for social contributions across all gaming verticals, and what specific changes are being considered?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16336,156,158],"tags":[229,23909],"class_list":["post-19627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-australasia-news","category-regulation-news","category-slider-home","tag-gambling","tag-slot-games"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19627"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19627\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19662,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19627\/revisions\/19662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}