Trust says story about pub turning off pokies because of gambling mum 'less than accurate'

Tuesday, 5 June 2018

The Masonic Hotel in Rawene, Northland, where the pokies have been switched off.

The pub landlord who claimed he switched off his pokies after a woman abandoned her baby to play his machines has come under fire from the gaming trust that owns the machines, who say they actually turned them off because of late payments.

Pub Charity, the gaming trust that owns the seven poker machines at the Masonic Tavern in Rawene, Northland, says landlord Glen Dick's story is 'less than accurate' and has 'significant inconsistencies'.

On May 27, Dick said that 'last week' he confronted a young woman playing the pokies after finding her baby abandoned outside the pub in a baby carrier.

But Pub Charity say they have analysed three weeks of CCTV footage from four cameras inside the pub - covering the main bar, the pokie room and the other in an office - and have seen no footage of that incident. They say they also paid an independent contractor to double-check the tapes and found nothing.

Dick stands by his story and says he had acted to switch off his machines - which have now been taken away from the pub - before Pub Charity stepped in. 'I think it has gone into crisis mode [for Pub Charity] and they are trying to cover themselves with government bodies [around their problem gambling responsibilities],' he said.

He said a senior Pub Charity official had phoned him up last Friday 'huffing and puffing and saying 'we've gone through the footage, do you want to retract [your story]?' I said 'not at all'.'

* Rawene Hotel bans pokies after mum playing the machines left her baby outside**

Dick's partner Lana said the couple had spoken to a lawyer who was willing to represent them pro bono if they wished to take action against Pub Charity. She said they 'definitely' stood by their account of events. 'I am angry, I am absolutely furious with them [Pub Charity],' she said. She said she had commented to her partner at 'how convenient' it was for Pub Charity to find no evidence of the incident.

Pub Charity chief executive Martin Cheer said they were 'surprised' to read media reports of the incident as they had a legal obligation to investigate problem gambling incidents. Cheer said he applauded Dick's actions in stepping in but had been concerned that the woman had not been identified and given help.

'There were a number of statements made by Mr Dick that appear to be less than accurate including how the machines came to be off, the amount of income he was losing, and when the daily CCTV footage was reviewed of the day in question, we could not corroborate Mr Dick's story about a woman and a baby,' Cheer said.

'Even after extending the search over a three-week period we were unable to see the events outlined by Mr Dick in the media.

'We have been frustrated we have been unable to confirm the events outlined by Mr Dick and his partner so we have literally bundled the whole lot up, including the CCTV footage, and sent it off to the Department of Internal Affairs.'

Cheer's reference to 'the amount of income' Dick was losing refers to the site rental fee the pub was paid by Pub Charity. Pub landlords are paid a site rental fee for each pokie machine they host. The rental fee is set by the pokie trust and based on turnover so, for example, high turnover urban sites in south Auckland tend to attract the highest fees.

A gaming industry source said it was very unlikely a small seven-machine site in a rural location would generate a site rental for the landlord as high as the $1000 per week Dick claimed. Stuff understands he was being paid around $500 per week.

Pub Charity chief executive Martin Cheer.

Pub Charity say they switched off the Masonic's machines on May 21, five days before Dick posted on Facebook that he was shutting the machines down after being 'heavily influenced' by the woman leaving the baby outside to play the pokies. The post was shared 424 times, and got 627 comments, including one from former Problem Gambling Foundation boss John Stansfield, who called them 'heroes'.

Cheer said Dick told him the incident happened on May 15. The pub did no gaming trade on May 16 and 17, and the trust switched off the machines because of late payment on the 21st. The trust checked footage back to May 1.

Dick said his dates might be slightly wrong around the incident but said it had definitely happened and he was trying to track down another woman who was in the pokie room when it happened.

Dick told Stuff at the time that pokies 'destroyed families' and 'aren't worth the headache for us. We don't want that sort of behaviour in our community. We want the hotel to have a family environment. We've changed its whole vibe.'

Under the Gaming Act, managers are given a five-day period to bank the weekly proceeds from their poker machines. They are given one warning, before the Department issues an infringement notice and they can then be liable for a $2500 fine. It's understood that Pub Charity believe this was the third time the pub had late banked. Lana and Glen Dick both said they had late banked only once, due to a misunderstanding over who was doing the payments.

Pub pokie bosses claim 'inconsistencies' in landlord's story that he switched off the pokies after a mother abandoned her baby to play on them.

The DIA would not confirm what action, if any, had been taken against the Masonic Tavern.

Tony Crosbie, the gaming spokesman for Hospitality New Zealand, said he would raise the issue of disciplinary action against Dick at their next board meeting.

'We would make it quite clear from Hospitality New Zealand that this is behaviour we don't tolerate from our members and we have a code of ethics and this stuff is something we would be looking into as far as membership [is concerned]… if this particular member wants to put us at risk, it is not good for us.'

Crosbie said other Northland pubs had felt pressured to get rid of their pokies, but claimed the industry was being responsible around problem gambling and Pub Charity's actions demonstrated that.

But the Problem Gambling Foundation said they often heard stories of children being abandoned while their parents played on pokie machines.

'There was nothing [in the original story] that made us think this is unusual: we weren't surprised by the circumstances at all,' said the PGF's marketing director, Andree Froude. 'We know that children get left unattended at pokie venues, particularly in cars. SkyCity has staff in car parks monitoring for just that. So it is nothing unusual, and unfortunately, that is one of the sad realities of problem gambling: it causes people to behave in ways they wouldn't normally.'

The identity of the woman and baby involved has not been discovered.

The DIA said it was the responsibility of a venue's manager to identify problem gambling. 'In a case where a baby is left unattended while the parent gambled we would expect that response to include an offer of information about problem gambling and how to seek help, and the issue of an exclusion order [where gamblers are banned from the premises].'

The ministry responsible for at-risk children, Oranga Tamariki, does not know the identity of the woman and child. 'Oranga Tamariki has not received a report of concern,' a spokesperson said. 'If anyone in the community has concerns about this child we would encourage them to contact police or call us. We want to ensure the child is safe and provide whatever support is needed.'