Gambling in our How many pokie gambling machines should Christchurch have? In which parts of the city should new businesses wanting to include pokies be allowed to operate? How many machines should any new business be allowed to have? Should there be any more machines at all? What about TAB (Totalisator Agency Board) venues?

Taking the time to send in your opinions about these and associated questions will help Christchurch's City Councillors firm up a policy on gambling. The Council wants to hear what the community thinks by 5 February.

The matter is fairly urgent. In a perfect world the City Council wouldn't be asking citizens to think about such a weighty issue over the holiday period, but in this case, it is Wellington driving the timetable. When the Government passed the Gambling Act 2003 in mid-September, it meant councils around the country had until 18 March to consult with their communities and come up with a policy.

Councillor Sue Wells, who chairs the Regulatory and Consents Committee, says the Government's timetable meant the Councillors and staff had to quickly do the research and put together a draft policy so that the people of Christchurch have something to look at and debate. To that end, the Council last month agreed on a draft policy. A formal summary of the proposal is in this issue of City Scene, on p6.

"In a nutshell what we're suggesting is that we would set a cap on the number of machines in Christchurch based on the number of adults the city has," Cr Wells told last month's City Council meeting. "Our suggestion is that the ratio of machines to people over 18 years old would be one machine to 100 adults. We had to pick a number and that's the one we settled on, but it doesn't mean any of us will die in a ditch for it. From the information we have about the numbers now, that (1-100) would allow a slight increase in the total number of machines. At the moment we have about one to 110 adults."

In comparison, Dunedin has a ratio of one to 109 adults, Wellington 1-122, Auckland City 1-120 and North Shore 1-250, she says. "Council staff mapped where machines are now. It shows there are relatively more machines in the city's lower socio-economic areas than there are in the wealthier parts of town," Cr Wells says.

Her committee looked at how a policy might confront that imbalance, but decided it would be better to just say that it is a factor to consider and see what reaction there was to the facts.

As people consider the issue it is important for them to understand that the Government is not giving the Council power to regulate pokie machines in the Christchurch Casino - "that's dealt with by another law," Cr Wells says "and it also does not include things like fruit machines which dispense cards where you tear off the covers to see if you've won a prize, or lotteries outlets.

It is also important to note that any new policy does not apply to businesses which have been operating within the rules since before September 2001, no matter where in the city they are. "Under the rules at the time, they were allowed up to 18 machines and it won't affect those people. Businesses which have started installing machines between then and now have taken a bit of a punt and I think they all understand that they could be affected by this process. It could be that some of them will have to give their machines up," Cr Wells says. "The other thing we're suggesting is that any new applications to have machines should be in business zones, not in living zones," Cr Wells says. "So if you were setting up in a small block of shops and the city as a whole was below the maximum ratio, that would be OK by the Council and you could then go to the Department of Internal Affairs, but not if you were wanting to set up in a building in the middle of a living zone."

Submissions have to be back to the Council by 5 February 2004. To find out more, look on the web at www.ccc.govt.nz/haveyoursay or call 941 8999 to ask for a form to be sent to you.

Cr Wells' Regulatory and Consents Committee will consider the submissions on 1-3 March at the Civic Offices on Tuam Street and the full City Council will meet in a special session on 15 March to set its policy on this issue.

A summary of the Council’s draft proposal on gambling, pokie machines and TAB outlets is on p6. The report considered by the Council last month is on the web at www.ccc.govt.nz/Council/Proceedings/2003/November/RegConsents/GamblingAct.pdf