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In this Gambits:

• Cancelled Credit and Manual Payments Procedure
• Reminder for clubs: use the new electronic forms and address for invoice payments
• Gambling Compliance Group staff changes
• Sales Promotion Schemes

The Department has recently been made aware of some issues with prize payments. There has been a report of a player leaving their winning machine and their prize being incorrectly paid out to a different player in their absence. There has also been a report of a player incorrectly claiming someone else’s cancelled credit from the bar.

System enhancements have enabled automation of cancelled credits. This means that players can now remain at the machine and press a button to signal to venue staff the payment is required.

If a player moves to another machine before venue staff enter the gaming room, and venue staff do not follow correct procedures, there is an increased risk that the correct player will not be identified. This leads to an increased risk of incorrect payments being made and venues having to pay out the prize again. Please remind venue staff to ensure they are correctly identifying the legitimate winner of a prize before paying out any money or cancelled credits.

The cancelled credit and manual payments procedures can be found in the Gambling Act (Class 4) Game Rules 2016 (see page 15, sections 22 and 23).

Editable PDF licensing application forms have been available on the Department website since 24 April 2017. We are still receiving the old paper forms from some clubs. Please ensure that you are using the new forms and that they are clear, legible and attached as a single PDF file (not separate files for each page) when they are emailed to the Department (Gambling.Licensing@dia.govt.nz).

Once the Department has received your forms we will generate an invoice. This can be paid by direct credit (preferred) or by cheque. If paying by cheque please ensure that payment is sent, with remittance advice, to the address stated on the remittance advice slip: 

Accounts Receivable
Department of Internal Affairs
PO Box 130
Wellington 6140
New Zealand

Please note this is not the same address as the Gambling Compliance correspondence address on the top right of the invoices.

There is more change going on in the Gambling Compliance Group.

On 3 July Sue Ingram began a six month secondment as Project Lead of the Regulatory Services Review team. Michelle White will be the acting Manager of Sector Initiatives for this period.

The review of the Regulatory Services Group is to ensure we are in the best possible state to meet our future challenges. Its aim is to position and strengthen our systems, structure and capability. No decisions about potential changes have been made in advance of the work, with decisions expected towards the end of the year. At that point we’ll know if any alternative configurations are needed – but only then.

However, this is having an impact on the length of back-fill appointments that we are making and explains why some of the roles at present are acting ones, rather than permanent replacements.

Keeping this in mind, Cath Anyan has become Manager of the Gambling Compliance Team, for six months from 3 July. This is the role previously filled by Stefan Pischief.

Danielle Lancaster will remain as acting Team Leader of the Auckland licensing team until mid-December. This is back-filling for Lance Daly, who has a secondment to the Casino Compliance team.

The organisational structure of the Gambling Compliance Group is shown in the chart below which can be found on our website.

The Department has recently been asked for advice around the conduct of sales promotions schemes in New Zealand. The definition of sales promotions schemes can be found in section 4 of the Gambling Act 2003 (the Act).

Remote interactive gambling is prohibited under Section 9 of the Act. The Department was asked to consider a case where, following the purchase of goods, the purchaser could go online to have a chance of winning a prize. In this case the Department’s position is that the “gambling” takes place at the time the customer purchases a qualifying product in-store (regardless of the process required to obtain the final prize).  As the gambling does not occur through a communication device, this is not considered to be remote interactive gambling. 

The definition of remote interactive gambling also specifically excludes “a sales promotion scheme that is in the form of a lottery and is conducted in New Zealand”.

A second question was posed about whether conduct (as defined in section 5 of the Act) associated with a sales promotion scheme that is in the form of a lottery conducted in New Zealand, such as conducting the draw and promoting the sales promotion scheme from overseas, was caught by the exclusion and therefore not considered remote interactive gambling. The Department’s position is that, if the sales promotion scheme is not remote interactive gambling, the associated conduct will also not be remote interactive gambling. 

As to the meaning of “conducted in New Zealand”, the Department takes a pragmatic view: The reality of global franchise arrangements means that there may be no corporate presence in New Zealand and sales promotions are run from regional offices, often in Australia. The Department considers that “conducted in New Zealand” does not mean that a sales promotion scheme in the form of a lottery online must be conducted exclusively in New Zealand. 

Further information on remote interactive gambling can be found on the Department’s website.