Tauranga City Council's Community and Culture Committee decided today to adopt a ‘sinking lid' policy on gambling venues and gaming machines. From 14 March 2019, no new gambling venues will be allowed to set up in Tauranga, and no additional machines will get approval to operate.

The sinking lid policy will mean that over time, the number of venues and machines will slowly decline, if venues shut down or give up some of their machines.

Under the new rules, existing venues relocating within the city will only be able to establish within commercial and industrial areas and more than 100m from residential zones with high social deprivation, as defined by the NZDep2013 index of deprivation (or subsequent updates).

Committee Chair Cr. Terry Molloy said that these decisions reflect the feedback received from the community over the past few years.

'The community told us through a survey two years ago that they want to see a reduction in the number of gaming machines, and a majority of submitters to the formal consultation last year supported the sinking lid approach”, said Cr. Molloy.

'As a council we don't have the power to control the growth of online gambling, but the sinking lid policy is something we can do, to help reduce the potential harm to our community.”

'The main issue we're grappling with is the effect the sinking lid could have on the funding available to our community organisations. We need to look into how we can help mitigate this, if the available funding does decline.”

In preparation for the next review of this policy, in three years' time, council staff will further investigate the effects of the policy on funding for community organisations. Subject to the outcome of the work, Council could consider ways to support and encourage community organisations to plan for future funding options and to enhance their sustainability.

Staff will also look into other options for relocation of existing gaming venues, whether a variable sinking lid across the city – based on social-economic factors of different neighbourhoods – would be appropriate, and whether new venues could be allowed to open in new urban growth areas.