Page 90 - Week 01 - Tuesday, 9 December 2008
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MS GALLAGHER: I present the report on the community contributions made by gaming machine licensees in the period 1 July 2007 to 30 June 2008. The report is a requirement of the Gaming Machine Act 2004 and is made by the Gambling and Racing Commission.
The act requires licensees to make a minimum community contribution of seven per cent of their net gaming revenue each financial year. The legislation outlines the broad purpose that a contribution must meet to be approved by the commission as a community contribution. In addition, guidelines in the gaming machine regulations provide further 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 order to encourage contributions in two specific areas, the legislation provides an incentive for licensees by allowing a claim of $4 for every $3 actually contributed.
These target areas are women’s sport and, for the first time, contributions that assist to alleviate problem gambling. The commission’s report provides information on three main aspects: the extent to which licensees use their revenue to make community contributions, the level of contributions in each reporting category and legislative compliance by gaming machine licensees.
In 2007-08 the club industry had net gaming machine revenue totalling $100.3 million, a decrease of 8.4 per cent on the previous financial year. Despite this decrease, community contributions increased in that year. The commission’s report outlines that the total value of community contributions from clubs in 2007-08 was $14.6 million. This is 14.6 per cent of net gaming machine revenue, well above the seven per cent minimum contribution required. It is also a 14.1 per cent increase in dollar terms on contributions in 2006-2007.
As in previous years, the level of contributions to the sport and recreation category consistently and significantly outweighed the level of contributions to other categories. In 2007-08 sport and recreation received approximately $10.7 million or over 73 per cent of all contributions.
The commission’s report shows that contributions to women’s sport were $211,198 or just over 1.4 per cent of total contributions. Even though this is a small percentage in relation to other categories, it is pleasing to note that the level of contributions to women’s sport has once again increased, this time by over 27 per cent when compared to the previous financial year.
The figures in the commission’s report indicate that contributions to charitable and social welfare organisations have decreased by 16 per cent in comparison to the previous year and now account for less than seven per cent of total contributions. This
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