{"id":27481,"date":"2022-02-22T11:00:29","date_gmt":"2022-02-22T14:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=27481"},"modified":"2026-04-23T11:06:46","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T14:06:46","slug":"nz-gaming-machine-sector-complains-govt-wont-fund-facial-recognition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/nz-gaming-machine-sector-complains-govt-wont-fund-facial-recognition","title":{"rendered":"NZ gaming machine sector complains govt won’t fund facial recognition"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Peter Dengate Thrush, chairman of the Gaming Machine Association, has said some funds collected from the problem gambling levy should be used to help companies install the facial recognition cameras.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

New Zealand.-\u00a0The New Zealand Gaming Machines Association<\/strong>\u00a0has complained that the national Ministry of Health has refused to help fund facial recognition software for gambling machines. The association had called on the government to give some of the money it collects from the\u00a0problem gambling<\/a>\u00a0levy on pokies back to operators to pay for the software.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GMA chairman Peter Dengate Thrush <\/strong>said: “There are 148 facial recognition systems already installed in venues across New Zealand. The class 4 industry – the societies – spent $3.5m themselves because they don’t want problem gamblers in their venues.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Health said it “would not be appropriate for the Ministry of Health to fund software licences for gambling venues”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She added: “Venues receive a commission payment of up to 16 per cent of gaming machine profits to meet the operational costs of hosting gambling. This includes the costs associated with meeting harm minimisation requirements.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She also pointed out that the ministry funded a database that has the capability to securely store photos to support facial recognition systems, “making it easier for venues to incorporate these into their systems.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A month ago, Thrush questioned a plan to\u00a0increase the Problem Gambling budget<\/a>\u00a0from NZ$60.3m to NZ$76.1m (US$50.8m) over the next three years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Peter Dengate Thrush, chairman of the Gaming Machine Association, has said some funds collected from the problem gambling levy should be used to help companies install the facial recognition cameras.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":15648,"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 Gaming Machine Association is seeking government funding from the problem gambling levy to subsidize facial recognition software installations in Class 4 venues, citing existing industry investment in harm minimization. The Ministry of Health has rejected this, asserting that venue commissions already cover operational costs, including harm minimization requirements, while noting its funding of a supporting database. This highlights a regulatory and financial dispute over the allocation of problem gambling funds and operator responsibility for compliance technology.","focusai_entities":"Peter Dengate Thrush, Gaming Machine Association, Ministry of Health","focusai_location":"New Zealand","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (0.95), investor_analyst (0.8), supplier_vendor (0.75), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Funding Model Efficacy","query":"What precedent does the Ministry of Health's refusal to fund facial recognition software set for future operator-led harm minimisation initiatives, and how might this impact the broader governance framework for problem gambling levies?"},{"label":"Operator Cost Burden","query":"Given the existing 16% commission on gaming machine profits, what is the detailed financial breakdown demonstrating the inadequacy of current operator funding to cover advanced harm minimisation technologies like facial recognition, beyond the $3.5m already invested?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16336,156,158],"tags":[229,23911,23907],"class_list":["post-27481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australasia-news","category-regulation-news","category-slider-home","tag-gambling","tag-gambling-regulation","tag-land-based-casino"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27481","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=27481"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27481\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27491,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27481\/revisions\/27491"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}