Green Party claims victory on gambling issues

Green Party MP and Gambling Spokesperson Sue Bradford welcomed Government recognition today of gambling issues that the Green Party has been concerned about for years.

This afternoon the Government agreed with the Green Party to significantly reduce the review period of the Problem Gambling levy. In the same afternoon the Department of Internal Affairs released the report ‘Where do Gaming Machine Profits Go?’.

Ms Bradford says “this report presents clear evidence of what the Greens have been saying for years - that a huge amount of money is being taken out of the pockets of low income people and communities and transferred to sports like rugby, soccer and racing stakes through the mechanism of the pub based pokies.

“I hope this report will help motivate the Government to use the Gambling Amendment Bill currently before the House to make much more substantial reform of our gambling laws than is currently intended.

As part of separate discussions with the Green Party, the Government agreed to reduce the review period of the Problem Gambling levy from 3 years to 18 months.

Ms Bradford said ‘Our main concerns are that the rate set for casinos is much lower than it should be; that clubs who run pokies are treated unfairly because they are treated the same as pubs, yet operate their machines a lot more responsibly; and that the levy was struck this year on the basis of erroneous data.

‘I am delighted that after discussions with us the Government has agreed to review both the way the problem gambling levy is set, and the levy itself 18 months sooner than would otherwise have occurred.’

We will be watching closely to make sure the Government does in fact carry out the earlier review on the levy, and that it takes into account our concerns.