GAMBITS
News for the gambling sector
19 March 2019
Tēnā koutou katoa from the Regulatory Services team.
Our thoughts are with all those affected by the tragic events in Christchurch last week.
Acting Director Gambling Chris Thornborough has been in touch with the Gaming Machine Association of New Zealand (GMANZ), Clubs NZ and the Christchurch Casino personally to express aroha and support for the Christchurch community. Our team nationwide stands in solidarity with our Christchurch colleagues and the Muslim community and extends love and support.
Part of our response is to offer office space with our Christchurch Regulatory Services team to assist DIA’s continued community support.
Guidelines for directing grants to support Christchurch
We have developed guidelines for gaming machine trusts that wish to contribute to victim and community support in Christchurch.
The first step is to decide which of the recognised funds you wish to assist, such as the Victim Support Official Fund for support of Christchurch Shooting Victims or other new Zealand-based organisations working directly with affected people and communities. Please ensure this is consistent with your authorised purpose. It may be helpful to make contact with the organisation first to ensure they are comfortable with receiving grants generated by gambling.
Your trust could provide the chosen organisation with a partially completed grant application form highlighting any additional information that is required. The usual quotes or costs breakdown that accompany such funding requests won’t be required.
If trusts want to make a collective grant, they could collectively decide which appeals to support and then action the grants individually.
If you have any questions, please email them to gambits@dia.govt.nz.
It's a good time to enhance our Culture of Care
In the aftermath of the Christchurch earthquakes, we saw an increase in gambling-related harm. Tragic events put people and families under pressure in many ways and everyone deals with stress and grief differently.
We ask venue and casino operators to be mindful of this and be extra vigilant in the gaming rooms. It’s a good time to enhance your culture of care and look for signs of problem gambling to help minimise the harm to individuals and families.
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