Page 3607 - Week 11 - Thursday, 16 November 2006
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Guidelines in the Gaming Machine Regulation 2004 provide assistance to the commission and to licensees as to what types of expenditure would be approved as a community contribution. The areas of the community to which contributions can be made include charitable and social welfare, sport and recreation, non-profit activities, and community infrastructure.
In the area of sport and recreation the legislation provides an incentive for licensees to consider contributions to women’s sport. For every $3 contributed, the licensee’s contribution will be calculated at $4. The commission’s report shows that the contributions to women’s sport further declined when compared to previous years. It is disappointing that this incentive scheme does not attract the level of contributions women’s sport deserves.
The commission’s report provides information on three main aspects of the contributions: legislative compliance by gaming machine licensees, the extent to which licensees use their revenue to make community contributions, and the level of contributions in each reporting category. The report includes data on contributions by both club and hotel gaming machine licensees.
In 2005-06 the club industry had net gaming machine revenue of $113.1 million, an increase of 4.23 per cent on the previous year. It is on the net gaming machine revenue figure that clubs are required to pay their mandatory seven per cent community contributions. Net gaming machine revenue is calculated as follows: gross gaming machine revenue derived by the licensee less any amount of gaming machine tax payable on the gross gaming machine revenue, and 24 per cent of gross gaming machine revenue. The 24 per cent deduction is in recognition of the expenses a licensee incurs in its gaming machine operations in order that the required level of community contributions can be made. This percentage was revised from 15 per cent to coincide with the removal of the gaming machine tax GST credit scheme that came into effect on 1 July 2005.
The commission’s report outlines that the total value of community contributions from clubs in 2005-06 was $12.5 million, representing 11.06 per cent of net gaming machine revenue, which is a 4.55 per cent decrease in dollar terms on that of 2004-05.
In 2005-06 the sport and recreation area received the bulk of contributions of approximately $9.1 million, or over 70 per cent of all contributions. Contributions to women’s sport amounted to $130,000, or just over one per cent of total contributions. The other categories received were charitable and social welfare, $1.5 million or 12.32 per cent of total contributions; non-profit activities, $1.6 million or 12.9 per cent of total contributions; and community infrastructure, $100,000 or 1.12 per cent of total contributions.
As in previous years, the level of contributions to the sport and recreation category consistently and significantly outweighs the level of contributions to the individual and combined totals of the other categories. Primarily this outcome is because the support and/or development of sporting activities are among the principal objects of many clubs. Expenditure consumed in pursuit of those objectives can be claimed as a community contribution.
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