2008 INTERNATIONAL GAMBLING CONFERENCE The Regulators Challenge Looking

2008 INTERNATIONAL GAMBLING CONFERENCE The Regulator’s Challenge Looking forward Ensuring Gambling Operators Maintain an Appropriate Focus on the ‘Safety’ Requirements of the Gambling Act 2003 Mike Hill, Director, Gambling Compliance Group

The Gambling Act 2003 • Purposes (outcomes): – Prevent & minimise harm caused by gambling – Insure the integrity and fairness of games – Limit opportunities for crime & dishonesty – Ensure money benefits the community – Facilitate responsible gambling – Facilitate community involvement in decisions about the provision of gambling – Control the growth of gambling

Regulator’s Challenge • Moving beyond compliance activities that deliver regulatory outputs (sometimes national consistency) to interventions that actually prevent harm in communities • Moving beyond a “yapping dog” approach that brings mixed compliance with the prescriptive requirements of the Act to a serious commitment to achieve the purposes of the Act • Moving to such a model requires gambling operators to take more ownership & accountability for making gambling safer & it also involves greater community engagement by key stakeholders

Department is committed to implement an outcomes model Draft intermediate outcomes

What an outcomes focus could look like at “community level” • The Department will this year start to understand & profile communities such as Gisborne so we can better understand the factors that underpin – – gambling crime – gambling harm – issues that impact on the integrity of gambling • Identify at a community level – key gambling stakeholders in that community (Maori, TLA’s, Health Providers other agencies e. g. police) – Venue/gambling operators/service providers • Build an understanding around gambling issues, at that community level, to help us assess the degree of compliance with the Act & gauge an overall assessment of gambling safety in that community

Building a community profile • EMS – provides really good/accurate data on “pokie” spend • Working to overlay this with: – Information from the community & stakeholders around gambling safety/integrity concerns – Community risk profile – Ultimately, accurate & timely grants information – Other • By understanding the community issues around gambling safety & integrity we can work together to achieve the outcomes sought in the Act

What this gambling outcomes approach means for gambling operators • The Department’s expectation is that gambling operators (Casinos & Class 4) take ownership & responsibility for ensuring their operation is: – Free from harm – Free from crime – Transparent, operates with integrity (in accordance with the Act) • Gambling operators will need to better understand the community & safety risks associated with their gambling operation & we will expect them to proactively address them

What this means for the Department’s compliance approach • Gambling Compliance Group will implement a new structure from 3 March to better achieve these community safety and integrity outcomes • We are already working with wider community groups to achieve these goals – this will increase in a focused manner • We will be more strategic about interventions we apply to gambling operations at a community level & make compliance decisions that reflect the best safety outcomes for that community • We will involve both gambling operators & service providers in aspects of our field work to build understanding around harm prevention expectations • We will develop a more balanced compliance model which addresses both national & local community gambling risks

What about Gisborne? • What did we do differently when the compliance team visited Gisborne last week? – attended & presented at the TPGAG (Tairawhiti Problem Gambling Action Group) hui – met with the TLA to understand “hot spots” – discussed with key stakeholders the development of a community outcomes approach to gambling harm