Page 3265 - Week 11 - Tuesday, 13 November 2007
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regulations 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, and for every $3 contributed, the licensee’s contribution would be calculated as $4. It is pleasing to note that the commission’s report showed that contributions to women’s sport increased over 22 per cent when compared with the previous financial year.
The commission’s report provides information on three main aspects of the contributions: legislative compliance; 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 club, hotel and tavern gaming machine licensees.
In 2006-07, the club industry had net gaming machine revenue totalling $109.4 million, a decrease of 3.3 per cent on the previous year. It is on the net gaming machine revenue figures that clubs are required to pay the 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 reduction is in recognition of the expenses the licensee incurs in its gaming machine operations in order that the required level of community contributions can be made. The commission’s report outlines that the total value of community contributions to clubs in 2006-07 was $12.8 million, representing 11.7 per cent of net gaming machine revenue. This is a 2.9 per cent increase in dollar terms on 2005-06.
As in previous years, the level of contributions to the sport and recreation category consistently and significantly outweighed the level of contribution to the individual and combined totals of other categories. In 2006-07, sport and recreation received approximately $9.3 million, or over 70 per cent of all contributions. However, it is troubling to note that in 2006-07 the contributions to charitable and workable organisations continue to significantly decrease compared with previous years. In 2006-07, contributions to this category decreased by 22 per cent and now account for less than 10 per cent of total contributions. The 2006-07 contribution to charitable and social welfare of around $1.2 million is almost half the level of the equivalent contribution of $2.3 million made in 2003-04.
In 2006-07, women’s sport received $170,000, or just over one per cent of total contributions. Non-profit activities received $1.9 million, or 15 per cent of total contributions. Community infrastructure received $220,000, or 1.7 per cent of total contributions.
The hotels-taverns group had gross gaming machine revenue of $710,584 in 2006-07, an increase of $49,000. The 13 licensees in the group contributed $73,904 to the
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