News
Bell Gully advises on major gaming sector initiative
Bell Gully has advised the Department of Internal Affairs on an initiative to bring greater accountability in community fundraising through the gaming sector.
The Department has recently signed a contract with gambling technology company Intralot New Zealand Limited for the provision and operation of a electronic monitoring system (EMS) for all gaming machines in New Zealand pubs and clubs.
Bell Gully advised the Department on the NZ$35 million contract, which involves the design, build, testing, operation and management of a system to enable daily electronic monitoring of all non-casino gaming machines located in about 1,800 venues across the country.
The project has been launched in order to meet the requirements of the Gambling Act for a fully operational EMS to be in place by March 2007, to provide greater accountability and accurate record keeping by gambling operators. Record keeping is currently done manually for the operation of the more than 20,000 machines nationwide which last year produced a profit of $1.035 billion from a turnover of more than $8.6 billion.
The Department believes the introduction of EMS, which is now standard practice globally, will help safeguard money intended for community groups, providing information allowing it to:
- monitor how much money is gambled on each machine
- monitor how much each machine pays out in prizes to gamblers
- monitor how much money should be banked
- ensure that software used on all machines is identical and approved; and
- assist in detecting software failure or tampering with software or machine.
Bell Gully partner Stephen Revill, who led the team working with the Department, says the project presented unusual complexities due to the logistics of rolling out the EMS to 1,800 venues, run by different venue operators and involving more than 500 gambling operators. The deal also had to take into account the need for the EMS to run continuously, as required by law.
The Bell Gully team, which also included partner Peter Castle and solicitors Heidi Leslie and Ben Warden, advised the Department on contractual aspects of the project.
For more information, please contact:
Josephine Gallagher
Communications Manager
Bell Gully
64 9 916 8664 or 021 190 3185
Notes:
Intralot New Zealand Limited is a subsidiary of Intralot SA, European-based leading global supplier of gaming and transaction processing systems to state-licensed lottery organisations and financial services providers.
