DIA gambling merger delays 'to blame' for memorial club's liquidation

Tuesday, 7 May 2019

Tokoroa's failed three-way gaming venue merger looks set to claim its third victim.

The Putaruru District Services Memorial Club has gone into voluntary liquidation.

It comes after months of Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) delays in granting a gaming licence for a since canned mega gambling venue in Tokoroa.

Lawyer Jarrod True was in regular contact with the DIA during the failed attempt for three South Waikato clubs to merge and open a mega gambling venue in Tokoroa (file photo).

The Bridge St venue, which was to be called Club 56 with 30 pokie machines, was to see the merging of the club with the now closed Olde Establishment and Pockets 8 Ball Club. The later has also since closed after it was put into liquidation in the Rotorua High Court due to owing IRD nearly $800,000 in unpaid taxes in 2018.

* South Waikato gaming club's demise not voluntary

* South Waikato anti pokie group disbands after club merger demise

* Mega gambling venue plan for Tokoroa slammed by Dr Lance O'Sullivan**

Putaruru District Services Memorial Club president Lindsay Glover said considerable DIA delays put the club in financial difficulty and the demise of Pockets was the final blow.

'If you're a private business or negotiating to buy a farm or house there is a timeframe on it and decisions should have a timeframe on them.

'Once we had permission to merge the licence should have been forthcoming. Two years is ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous,' he said.

Anti pokie advocate Colin Bridle opposed the merging of three South Waikato clubs.

Glover said the club's lawyer Jarrod True worked with the DIA throughout the process.

'I asked the DIA and they said we had done nothing wrong, they were just doing due diligence. At no point did they say we couldn't have our licence,' he said.

He said going into liquidation was now the club's only option.

'If we had applied to the DIA and the DIA had said, within four months of us applying, no you are not going to merge, at the point we would have looked at alternatives and there were alternatives around because we were not in debt.

'Once you are in debt there is no funding mechanism or trust you can apply to. We have gone down that track now and been told they will not do debt recovery.'

Glover said under the Companies Act the club's 309 members will meet on May 12 to ratify the voluntary liquidation motion.

'At a preliminary meeting with the liquidator it was decided that the best way for the club to remain viable was for the club to keep trading under the liquidators direction and try to sell it as a club or as a private business.

'After 70 years of servicing the needs of its members and the community it would be a huge loss if the club was to close.

'It is now up to the people of Putaruru and the surrounding district to show their support for the club by using it.'

He also took aim at longtime anti pokie advocate Colin Bridle who opposed the merger going ahead.

'Colin and his little band took things to arbitration. Nineteen months down the track we still did not have the licence,' he said.

He said it should serve as a warning to those involved in hospitality.

'We had a small group of people that caused significant delays in the merger obtaining [its] gaming licence and it now appears that some of this group is now prepared to oppose all liquor licences.

'Even as a non drinker I find this ironic, I choose not to drink for my own reasons, after all it is my choice, and no one has the right to take that choice away from me. Likewise no one should have the right to dictate to those who like a bet on horses, play on the pokies or drink with their family or friends,' he said.

Glover said freedom of choice does however come with a degree of personal responsibility.

'Those that want to help members of society that are making poor choices should be commended but this help should not have an impact on some of the wonderful businessmen and women that are trying to create opportunities here in the South Waikato,' he said.

Bridle fired back at Glover's claim and suggested it was poor business decisions that led to the current situation.

'The Putaruru club was already in financial strife before the merger was being put together. My response is whom did the financial due diligence on the project?

'I find it ironic that you fail to acknowledge responsibility for your own decision making. One must chose their business partners carefully,' he said.

He also disputed that he's objected to every liquor licence.