16 May 2019
New Director appointed
Regulatory System, Gambling
Lisa Docherty has been appointed Director Regulatory System Gambling. She will take over from Chris Thornborough in June.
Lisa is currently the Director Regulatory Partners at the Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment, where she works across the Building regulatory system to ensure it is well connected and working to deliver the best possible outcomes.
Lisa has held governance roles and worked in both government and the private sector.
We look forward to introducing Lisa to stakeholders throughout the sector over the coming months.
Improving and rewarding performance - C4 three-year licence
Last year, we confirmed that organisations whose licences were due for review on 30 June could be the first to apply for the new C4 three-year licences.
We have been assessing the applications and are looking forward to announcing the first approvals very soon.The Department has worked hard to develop and design a robust, fair and thorough process that the system can engage with. We thank you for the system-wide collaboration to make things happen.
A three-year licence aims to improve performance across the Class 4 sector and reward organisations that demonstrate best practice by going beyond the minimum legal requirements.
Watch this space!
Investigating cashless gambling
The Department invited a range of stakeholders to meet and discuss the benefits and risks, and feasibility of exploring cashless gambling for the Class 4 sector in New Zealand. More than 20 representatives from gambling providers, government agencies and organisations working on minimising gambling harm met in early May for an open and wide-ranging discussion on the opportunities and challenges.
“Our intention was to bring a wide range of views to the table for an open discussion,” said Chris Thornborough, Acting Director Regulatory System, Gambling.
“I’d like to thank everyone who came and contributed to a productive and constructive meeting. There’s much more work to do to investigate both the benefits and risks in detail before making any decisions, and we look forward to doing this collaboratively.”
Storing of C4 gambling machines financial documents
We acknowledge there has been a bit of ambiguity around document storage, and would like to clarify a few points.
Any information that relates to financial transactions for class 4 gambling must be stored for at least:
- 1 month by the venue, and;
- 7 years by the society.
This information is listed in the class 4 game rules [Section 14(2)] which is accessible from our website and includes cancelled credit, short pays and refill reports, gambling equipment fault/player dispute reports and unpaid prize reports.
The Department suggests digitising these records and storing them electronically provided this is done in a safe, secure and retrievable way. Starting the process of digitisation will mean any paper records can be discarded after the 7 year mark. Paper records will gradually decrease until such time as all records are digitised.
Evaluation of the Gamble Host resources and training
The Health Promotion Agency is currently doing a formal evaluation of the Gamble Host resources and training material to see how well the resources are supporting venues.
In addition to interviews with selected Societies, venue staff, DIA Regulators, Gamblers and minimising gambling harm services, a 10 minute survey has been emailed to all Societies and minimising harm services. If you have received a link to the survey, please complete it to provide your feedback on the resources and training.
Resources for Māori, Pacific and Asian audiences
There has been some interest in targeted posters for venues with higher populations of Māori, Pacific and/or Asian audiences.
HPA undertook some research with gamblers last year to help inform this project and is aiming to have some targeted resources in multiple languages available by August.
Did you know?
Q&A: Gaming operators and tax exemption
Q: Our gaming operation is exempt from income tax, are we exempt from Goods and Services Tax (GST) as well?
A: The gaming operation is considered to be a taxable activity in GST terms because the activity is carried on continuously or regularly.
GST registration is voluntary when your annual gaming machine profits (GMP) are below $60,000. Gaming operators must apply for GST registration with Inland Revenue if their GMP is $60,000 or more.
Gambits – Tell us what you think
It’s been a few months since we relaunched Gambits and we want to continue to improve it. We are keen to hear what you think and ensure it continues to meet the needs of our subscribers. Please take a few minutes to share your views.
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