New Zealand’s Tokoroa region may halt gaming machines

Tokoroa region in New Zealand could stop operations of local gaming machines. The government of the region has allowed the operations of a new gaming salon. However, a local anti-gambling group is waging a legal battle to prohibit the business. The salon has not started functioning yet, but it already faces a legal battle against the group.

Colin Bridle, spokesperson for the newly formed “Feed Families Not Pokies”, revealed they have taken the case to the Justice as they consider a gaming salon with 30 slot machines to be damaging for local families’ development.

 “We have gathered a lot of material under the Official Information Act and are very fortunate that a barrister and a senior policy analyst, who are both experts in this area of law, have reviewed all that material without charging us for their time,” he said. “They advised us that there is a clear case for judicial review due to some significant flaws in the official decision-making processes.”

Colin Bridle said the new venue proposed for Tokoroa exploits a loophole in the Gambling Act to create a mini-casino. The Act allows a maximum of nine slot machines in new venues, the loophole in the Act means if RSAs and other genuine clubs merge there is a possibility of up to 30 machines being permitted in one venue. “We don’t want to see a venue with 30 pokie machines in our community which is basically a commercial venture masquerading as a club,” Bridle concluded.