JOHN BISSET/FAIRFAX NZ
The Timaru Town and Country Club will be able to retain all of their gambling machines if they apply for a new gambling licence within six months. (File photo)
The Timaru Town and Country Club can retain all of its gambling machines if a new gambling licence is applied for within six months according to a Timaru District Council statement.
The club’s licence to operate 18 gaming machines expired at the end of September and on October 26, a Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) spokesperson said the club had been forced to cease all gambling activities.
Council’s communications and engagement manager Stephen Doran said on Monday that DIA have confirmed that if the club submits an application within six months of the expiry of their licence they do not have to obtain a new consent from TDC.
A new Class 4 Gambling Venue Consent would have meant the club would have been restricted to a maximum of seven gaming machines, cutting out 11 machines.
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Timaru Town and Country Club general manager Vince Gardner had early said the club would have to “redevelop their whole business” if they lost that number of pokies.
However, Gardner said he had made enquiries and was confident the club would be able to retain 18 machines if it got a new gaming licence within six months.
Gardner said the club intended to “immediately” apply for a new licence, but said the club had outsourced the handling of its gambling licencing to a third party.
Douglas Field/Stuff
Timaru Town and Country Club general manager Vince Gardner.
A DIA spokesperson confirmed it had not received an application from the club as of Monday.
According to information held by the DIA, as of June 2022 there were 94 gaming machines located across six venues in central Timaru.
Of those, The Grosvenor Hotel, Richard Pearse Tavern, Old Bank Cafe and Bar and Timaru Town and Country Club each had 18, Armadillo’s on Stafford St had 15 and the Timaru South Cosmopolitan Club seven.
There are another 72 machines located across the Timaru District, with 42 in Temuka (Crown Hotel 18, Temuka Hotel 14, Empire Hotel 10), 18 at Geraldine (Village Inn and Crown Heritage Hotel – nine each), seven at the Ascot Sportshouse and Eatery in Washdyke and five at the Pleasant Point Hotel.
Figures released by the DIA earlier this year, showed almost $12m dollars was lost to pokie machines across South Canterbury in 2021, and Timaru machines accounted for most of that.