Gamble Free Day took place yesterday in New Zealand and, in addition to raising awareness about problem gambling, the day also provided The Greens with the opportunity to raise concerns about Sky City’s new pokies deal. The political party argued that we have heard quite a lot about the financial end of the deal, but not very much about its social impacts, and The Greens would like to have more attention paid to this aspect.
“What we’ve heard is that pokie deals will pay for the convention centre, but it’s not taking into account the other costs that all of us have to pick up,” says Denise Roche of The Greens.
Ideally, The Greens would like the local government to conduct some research into the social effects of bringing up to 500 new poker machines into the country. With increased availability of the machines, the political party believes that problem gambling rates will also rise, and the local community needs to learn a bit more about the social end of the deal.
Gamble Free Day present the perfect platform for the announcement of these concerns. Now, the general public is aware of the potential harm of the deal, and they can spread the word.