A draft Whakatāne District gambling policy and draft Social Impact Assessment will be available for community input next month, alongside the Whakatāne District Council’s 2016/17 Annual Plan.

The Gambling Policy (Class 4 Venue and Board Venue) focuses on non-casino gaming machines (or ‘pokies’) and Board Venues (stand-alone TABs) and, as required by the Gambling Act 2003 and Racing Act 2003, must be reviewed and made available for community submissions every three years.

The draft Social Impact Assessment concludes that the Whakatāne District has a medium risk of harm from gambling activities and that the level of risk has not changed significantly since the last review. Based on its findings, the draft gambling policy proposes limiting the number of gaming machines to 141 (six per 1,000 District residents over the age of 18).  Because the District now has 181 gaming machines in 13 venues (down from 245 in 19 venues in 2003), that would effectively mean that no applications for new machines could be approved until the total number of pokies in the District falls below 141. In adopting the draft policy for public consultation at its meeting this week, the Council’s Policy Committee also asked for changes to be incorporated which would limit the location of new gambling venues in areas with the highest levels of gambling risk.

The proposed policy also limits new Class 4 and Board Venues to locations that are zoned as ‘Business Centre’ in the proposed District Plan, and that are at least 50 metres away from premises with sensitive uses, such as schools and churches. An additional section has been included which proposes that applications to relocate existing Class 4 Venues will be treated as new applications, except in specific, exceptional circumstances.

Public submissions on the draft policy open on 21 March and close on 22 April. Hearings of submissions are scheduled for 5-6 May, and the Council will then deliberate on any changes required and adopt the final Gambling Policy.