In an editorial on August 26, the Hutt News reviewed what happens to the money generated from gambling and particularly, pokies in our communities. “A recent report from Auckland noted that money from pokie trusts in the poorest areas of the city, was disproportionately going to wealthy areas.
“The analysis showed that lower socio-economic parts of Auckland were producing the most money from pokie venues, but getting the least in grants.
“For example, only 22 per cent of the money generated in the Mangere-Otahuhu area went back to the community.”
The biggest, perhaps only. Argument for the pokies is that local communities benefit from the redistribution of this money for sporting and social organisations.
Clearly, this is not happening.
Add to that the pattern of distribution by the trusts dealing with these funds and there is cause for real concern.
In their regular advertisements announcing successful grant applications, there is a common pattern. Nearly all the grants to racing and trotting clubs are granted, with about half those to other sporting codes being successful. Other community activities are generally less successful again.
To this distribution must be added the level of grants as well. The racing/trotting club grants are often in the tens of thousands of dollars, while the others are only for thousands and commonly hundreds of dollars.
All of this adds up to further pressure on poor communities and adds to the inequality in our society. The rich getting richer and the poor losing out.