After the devastating earthquake hit Christchurch last year, gambling rates soared. Despite there being fewer poker machines in the area overall, more and more residents found themselves compelled to spend their money on gambling activities.
36 gaming venues across the area were damaged due to the earthquake. 21 gaming venues have closed since the disaster happened. Regardless, gambling rates are still up, but club owners still want to lift the ban on new pokies.
Some pubs and clubs with damaged machines requested that the sinking lid policy on pokies be lifted so that they could get their machines back; others wanted to relocate their machines. In either case, the local government refused, upholding the sinking lid policy in order to protect pokies players from harm.
A sinking lid policy not only bans the installation of new poker machines across a city. It also seeks to reduce the overall number of poker machines over time. This is not only beneficial for reducing problem gambling rates, but also ensuring that venues get used to depending less and less on poker machine revenue.
