Catholic schools oppose online casino bill

St Mary’s Catholic Primary School in Gisborne opposed the Online Casino Gambling Bill on behalf of the St Mary’s Sports Club in Gisborne. The submission stated that the Bill would have a “detrimental effect on our ability to provide essential resources and opportunities for our students and wider school community”.

“Our sports club and the St Mary’s Catholic School community have been significant beneficiaries of the community funding model that has been a cornerstone of New Zealand’s gambling legislation for the past 50 years,” the submission stated.

“This funding, derived from gaming machine profits (pokies), has been a vital lifeline that has enabled us to supplement our school’s projects and resourcing in ways that would otherwise be impossible.”

The St Mary’s submission stated that among several resources enabled by such funding have been new computers for classrooms, a school van, transport costs to school camps and new and safe play equipment.

“Without this critical funding, we would be forced to cut programmes, scale back resources, or place an untenable financial burden on our school families.”

A similar submission came from St Peter Chanel School in Motueka, which noted that this sort of funding is already under pressure. The introduction of another form of gambling may further reduce the level of funds available for the community, it argued.

“As a small Catholic primary school, we have directly benefited from applications to the Community Trust, enabling us to build a scooter track for our students and to purchase a swing for our adventure playground,” the Motueka submission stated.

Concern was also expressed that “granting these licences will result in further hardship for non-profit community groups and also will result in increased harm to those who suffer from problem gambling addictions”.

The Online Casino Gambling Bill seeks to establish a licensing regime to facilitate a safer and regulated online casino gambling market. It would prohibit the conduct and advertisement of unlicensed online casino gambling and provides protections for consumers, within the regulated online casino gambling market. It would allow up to 15 companies to operate licensed online casinos in New Zealand.

NewsTalkZB reported that the community sports sector has banded together under the Community Sports Collective and made a joint submission covering at least 1.67 million people. 

The Collective is “urging the Government to share the proceeds of online casino gambling with the community, in the same way they do with current grants”. 

FULL STORY

St Mary’s School Gisborne submission on Online Casino Gambling Bill (Parliament.nz)

St Peter Chanel School Motueka submission on Online Casino Gambling Bill (Parliament.nz)

Online Casino Gambling Bill – New Zealand Parliament (Parliament.nz)

Martin Snedden: Community sports need the extra funding (NewsTalkZB)