{"id":19923,"date":"2021-07-06T16:53:08","date_gmt":"2021-07-06T16:53:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=19923"},"modified":"2026-04-23T17:52:42","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T20:52:42","slug":"new-zealand-pokie-operators-allowed-to-break-government-regulations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/new-zealand-pokie-operators-allowed-to-break-government-regulations","title":{"rendered":"New Zealand: pokie operators allowed to break government regulations"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Reports claim that New Zealand\u2019s Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) let slot machine operators break government regulations for 17 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>New Zealand.-\u00a0Slots machines operators in New Zealand have been allowed to break government regulations for 17 years, according to an article by local media outlet RNZ. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the claims, in 2004, the DIA stipulated that\u00a0<strong>all available net proceeds from gaming machines<\/strong>\u00a0must be paid out as community grants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, the DIA didn&#8217;t take into account that doing that <strong>would lead some organisations to be technically insolvent<\/strong>, which would mean breaching New Zealand&#8217;s Companies Act and violating one of the financial viability requirements of the Gambling Act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To avoid that,<strong>\u00a0the regulator let pokie operators hold on to extra funds<\/strong>\u00a0as a buffer. The amount in question is unknown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to RNZ, when the Covid-19 pandemic started, the\u00a0<strong>rules were finally changed\u00a0<\/strong>and pokie operators were allowed to retain their reserves, up to 1.5 times their liabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A few days ago,&nbsp;<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/new-zealand-criticism-of-plan-to-make-pubs-pokies-turnover-public\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the DIA was criticised<\/a>&nbsp;after announcing a plan to&nbsp;<strong>openly publish pub-by-pub statistics for slot machine turnover<\/strong>&nbsp;in order to allow communities to see how much money people spend on gambling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pub owners and the&nbsp;<strong>Gaming Machine Association of New Zealand<\/strong>&nbsp;(<strong>GMANZ<\/strong>) argued the plan would be \u201ca virtual shopping list for armed robbers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Martin Cheer<\/strong>, chief executive of one of the biggest pokie trusts, said&nbsp;<strong>the measure could be implemented once pubs become cashless<\/strong>, but to do it now would be a risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He warned that if a bartender gets injured or killed as a result of an armed robbery,<strong>&nbsp;the DIA could be held legally responsible<\/strong>&nbsp;if any link to the statistics could be shown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Dave Robson<\/strong>, the DIA\u2019s new gambling director, said the move would allow communities to understand the amount of money put into \u201cpokies\u201d in their area.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Reports claim that New Zealand\u2019s Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) let slot machine operators break government regulations for 17 years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":18215,"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 New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) reportedly permitted slot machine operators to contravene regulations for 17 years by allowing retention of funds to avoid insolvency, despite a mandate for all net proceeds to be community grants. Concurrently, the DIA faces criticism for a new plan to publish pub-by-pub slot machine turnover statistics, with industry stakeholders warning of increased armed robbery risks and potential legal liability for the regulator.","focusai_entities":"Department of Internal Affairs (DIA), RNZ, Gaming Machine Association of New Zealand (GMANZ), Martin Cheer, Dave Robson","focusai_location":"New Zealand","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (1.0), operator_casino (0.9), investor_analyst (0.85), supplier_vendor (0.75), journalist_researcher (0.95)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"DIA's Legal Liability?","query":"What specific legal precedents or governance frameworks could hold the Department of Internal Affairs accountable for potential harm to operators or staff resulting from the publication of turnover statistics?"},{"label":"Regulatory Compliance Impact?","query":"How will the DIA address the 17-year period of non-compliance regarding net proceeds distribution, and what retrospective enforcement actions or policy adjustments are anticipated to restore full regulatory adherence?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16336,156,158],"tags":[23911,23909],"class_list":["post-19923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australasia-news","category-regulation-news","category-slider-home","tag-gambling-regulation","tag-slot-games"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19923","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=19923"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19923\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19948,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19923\/revisions\/19948"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}