Across the sea, New Zealand has 21,000 machines, again principally in the street market, although their six casinos can be substantial.
The slots in the street market - mostly pubs - can be operated and owned by registered charities which claim around one-third of the income, while the remainder goes to the state in taxes.
The progeny of those charities does not bear too much scrutiny. Sometimes they tend to be trusts which can be owned by anyone, which means that profits can flow back to private persons or corporations as opposed to the Australian model, where members own the clubs and it is a community asset.
The latest information from that market suggests that the clubs and pubs are tightening their belts as a result of more restrictions on the part of the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA), the administrators, who have conducted considerable investigations into the industry. This is the subject of an ongoing review at this time.
The casino sector is dominated by SkyCity, which owns two locations outright and has interests in three others, leaving just Lasseters Wharf Casino, the smallest in the country, as the only independent.
Since the Gaming Act of 2003, there has been a moratorium on new casino licences in New Zealand by the DIA.
The country has casino gaming tastes very much in line with the rest of the region, with American roulette dominating that style of play entirely. What is new into the market is multi-terminal games. Local area progressives are popular, but so far wide area progressives have not entered the market. In terms of the slots which have gone into New Zealand, our information is that some, but not all, of the major marques are present in the market, but that currently, Ainsworth slots are ‘performing best’. Ticket-in ticket-out (TITO) is not so far permitted in New Zealand casinos, although SkyCity in Auckland has 300 machines linked to a TITO system. This is because it was a trial conducted before the 2003 Gaming Act and the company was permitted to retain it after the Act banned TITO’s expansion. Everywhere, machines are played by bills.
The great bulk of slots in New Zealand are operated outside of the casinos, probably as many as 18,000, in pubs and members’ clubs. The main difference between this ‘street market’ and the same sector in Australia is that in New Zealand far fewer machines are permitted per location – a maximum of 18. The ‘take’ from the machines is also significantly larger in casinos than in the street market; in Auckland, for example, the SkyCity casino enjoys around 50 per cent of the total gaming revenue from the city’s market.
This feature can be read in full in the July 2012 issue of InterGaming magazine.
