Rotorua Lakes Council calls for fair share of online gambling profits
The controversial bill has sparked concerns from sporting organisations, who fear it will impact existing funding models.
However, the minister presenting the bill has argued there is little evidence to support
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Scoop
6 hours ago
- Scoop
Rotorua Lakes Council Calls For Fair Share Of Online Gambling Profits
Rotorua Lakes Council wants communities to get a share of the profits under the Government's Online Casino Gambling Bill. The controversial bill has sparked concerns from sporting organisations, who fear it will impact existing funding models. However, the minister presenting the bill has argued there is little evidence to support the case and warned that community funding provisions could do more harm than good. New Zealanders can currently gamble on offshore websites, but it is largely unregulated. The proposed bill, which passed its first reading in July, aims to regulate offshore online casino gambling and license up to 15 international operators. At present, the bill offers no obligation for operators to provide community funding. In its submission on Friday, Rotorua Lakes Council urged the select committee to consider adding a policy requiring a percentage of profit to be returned to communities. The council also wanted a proposed 12% online gambling duty to be reinvested into local problem gambling. 'It is only right that where possible, profits generated from gambling [are] reinvested into local communities through initiatives that aim to uplift and provide long-lasting change,' the council submission said. The submission also raised significant concerns around online and social media advertising and its impact on younger and inexperienced gamblers. At present, proceeds from Class 4 gaming machines, or pokies, are managed by community gaming trusts. Legislation requires they return at least 40% of net proceeds into the community in the form of grants, with more than $300 million distributed annually to community groups, including those involved in sport, education, health and the arts. Sporting organisations believe they are particularly vulnerable to the new bill, with gaming trust funding playing a huge role in grassroots activity. Last year, sport was by far the leading recipient of such grants in Rotorua, receiving $3.25m of the $7.4m available – more than double the next highest category received. Regional sport trust Sport Bay of Plenty received nearly $360,000 in grants from the Lion Foundation and the New Zealand Community Trust in the 2024 financial year. The trust is one of more than 50 sporting organisations nationwide that have formed a 'collective sport voice' urging the Government to ensure online casino profits return to communities. Sport Bay of Plenty said the organisation opposes the current form of the bill, which 'fails to uphold the long-standing principle that gambling profits should benefit the community'. It highlighted that roughly half of the funding from sport grants goes to clubs, covering expenses such as equipment, uniforms and coaching, with none going to high performance. Sport Bay of Plenty would not comment on the ethical concerns raised regarding gambling money largely funding community sport. A 2020 white paper by the Problem Gambling Foundation, Hāpai te Hauora and the Salvation Army warned that the current model is ethically and financially unstable, with funds disproportionately sourced from vulnerable, problem-gambling populations in deprived areas. Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden expressed concern this week in Parliament over repeating the same model with online gambling. 'When community groups are reliant on funding from the proceeds of gambling, there is an incentive to increase gambling in order to increase revenue for those organisations,' van Velden said. The Department of Internal Affairs had advised the minister that this model would make it harder to reduce gambling, because 'community organisations are dependent on the funding that they receive'. Van Velden also said there is 'no evidence' that regulation of online gambling will reduce the current funding pool, but remained 'open' to the idea of community returns. She will meet representatives from the sporting community this week. Rotorua has 24 Class 4 venues. This is higher than the national average by population proportion. The current Class 4 and TAB venue policy caps gaming machines at 350, but that is currently exceeded with 362, with 74% of pokies in the district's poorest areas. Annual gambling losses in Rotorua exceed $26m and in 2022-23, 5.33% of gambling interventions were in Rotorua, ranking third nationwide, above Wellington, Hamilton and Tauranga. Rotorua Mayor Tania Tapsell supported the council's submission but previously admitted deep concerns from the community 'around the morals' of the current model. 'Even though it benefits the community, we know it is being collected by an activity that causes significant harm in our community,' Tapsell said in a council meeting in late July. Submissions for the Online Casino Gambling Bill closed on Sunday, with a subsequent report due in November. Note: Mathew Nash was previously employed as communications manager at Sport Bay of Plenty.
RNZ News
7 hours ago
- RNZ News
High schools close as secondary teachers go on strike
education politics 5:17 pm today Members of the secondary teachers' union swapped classrooms for picket lines today. The one-day strike closed many schools as the Post Primary Teachers Association tried to pressure the government into improving its pay offer. But the government has said the union was too quick to go to a strike, and the bargaining seats were barely warm when they called it. Education correspondent, John Gerritsen reports.
RNZ News
8 hours ago
- RNZ News
Secondary teachers strike 'disappointing'
Education Minister Erica Stanford. Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii The Education Minister says it's disappointing secondary teachers are striking despite the union returning to negotiations. Teachers went on strike today after pay talks stalled over a government offer of a 1 percent rise each year for three years. Erica Stanford said the coalition would not budge from its position the Post Primary Teachers Association (PPTA) union should return to the table. "I've said a number of times that it's a real shame that the PPTA haven't been bargaining in good faith. "The bargaining seats were barely warm by the time they decided to go on their strike and if you look at all the slick marketing that they had prepared and all of the venues that they had booked, it looks extraordinarily like it was premeditated and that's really disappointing." She then confirmed secondary teachers had returned to the negotiating table but had gone ahead with the strike anyway. "They are back at the table. So that's a great thing. They have been back at the table. So that is good to see. "I came out and said, I think you should put off the strikes and come back to the table. They are back at the table but they didn't call off the strikes, which is disappointing given that we've only had six days of bargaining." On the strike action, the union said the government should have made a reasonable offer. More mediated bargaining is scheduled for Monday and Tuesday next week, a PPTA spokesperson said. The teachers' protest in Wellington. Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii Public Service Minister Judith Collins said she had been too busy to follow the strike action today but encouraged secondary teachers to get back to bargaining. "I've been busy all day. I have seven portfolios, plus I'm the chair of the Privileges Committee. I haven't got time to be involved in all that detail but I can say this, people should just get back, get back the bargaining table. Asked about her inaccurate comments about teachers' salaries last week, Collins said, "I just think get back to the bargaining table and stop acting silly." Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour said it was unreasonable for teachers to strike today. "We value teachers. That's why they've had 14 percent pay rises in the last three years. Most New Zealanders who are paying the taxes for it have had nothing like that. "They've also got additional funding to help with teacher aides. There's a lot of things being done for teachers that have really tried to ease the burden. Now they have six days of negotiation, go on strike and put everybody out. I think that's a bit unreasonable." Chris Hipkins thinks the teachers "have got a really fair point". Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii Labour leader Chris Hipkins said teachers worked hard and deserved a better offer. "I think the teachers have got a really fair point. They're being offered a real terms pay cut, so they'll be going backwards if they accept the offer that the government has made to them. "They've also had their pay equity claim unilaterally cancelled by the government and for secondary school teachers, they've been told that they're not allowed to lodge another one." Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson said what teachers were asking for was the least they deserved. "When you've got a government who has found billions for wealthy landlords, for tobacco companies, for fossil fuel executives; we've got what we need here to pay our teachers properly."
