Ending community sector dependence on pokie funding
PGF Group, Hāpai Te Hauora and the Salvation Army have long been concerned at the reliance many community groups have on grants from pokie trusts or societies to underpin their operations.
Many of these groups share our concerns because of the ethical dilemma it poses for them. The services that these organisations provide are largely essential to many people and they deserve to have certainty and sustainability in their funding providers. The current system of funding from pokies does not provide that surety, relying on a small group of people in our poorer communities putting money into the machines.
A number of important community social services and sporting groups rely on community funding and know that in doing so the money is often coming from the very whānau and communities they are trying to support into wellbeing.
The COVID-19 Level 4 lockdown and the consequent closure of hospitality businesses has starkly highlighted the dependency of community organisations on grants from pokie machine losses in the Class 4 gambling sector.
There is no better time to look at reforming this system for funding community services to give more direction and certainty in a whole of community approach.
At this time, the system needs to be substantially supported. We believe there should be a publicly funded continuation of grant distribution for a year from the time of the beginning of the alert level 4 lockdown and there are a number of ways this could be done.
