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Whether Pacific people gambled was largely influenced by their church, and whether the denomination endorsed gambling or not, researchers found.

Additionally, the study found that New Zealand offered more gambling opportunities and more free time than Pacific countries, and many study participants viewed gambling as an easy way to make money.

The study, commissioned by the Ministry of Health and carried out by AUT University, found a lack of gambling opportunities in Pacific Island countries, as well as cultural and religious views, influenced people's attitudes and behaviour.

About 100,000 of New Zealand's 4.3 million residents is a problem gambler and Pacific islanders are the most at-risk ethnic group to develop problem or pathological gambling behaviours. Pasifika peoples are four times more likely to be a problem gambler than any other ethnic group.

Source

• TVNZ
• Island Business
• Image: teachingamsam

Pub Charity chief executive Martin Cheer said a submission by an Anglican body seeking Pokie reform was a factor in the rejection.

In a later statement Pub Charity said it "suspended funding to Anglican Church based organisations following statements made by the Anglican Bishop of Auckland, reported in April 2012, that ‘the Church refused to take any funding from pokie machines - a decision which had shut down access to a large pool of funding'."

The Auckland Anglican Diocese can no longer have access to Pub Charity funding because it is a requirement that every application being considered by Pub Charity contain a certified resolution of the applicant's governing body that it supports the application.

However, The Anglican Bishop of Auckland, Ross Bay, says he was only speaking for Auckland and not for the church nationally.

Cheer rejects the church's position allowing independence to member groups to apply for pokie funding. He has written to the Anglican leadership group demanding it take a position nationally on the issue.

He said the refusal to do so - while still making applications - highlighted the church's hypocrisy and leadership failures. "You can't have it both ways. You can't actively campaign to get rid of something then apply for money from it." He later modified his remarks.

Organisations not familiar with the way the institutional churches are structured find it difficult to understand that each diocese is an autonomous body and that they operate independently.

The Anglican Church is led by the General Synod which allows freedom to linked organisations to make their own decisions on many ethical areas - including applying for gaming funding.

Source

• The New Zealand Herald
• The New Zealand Herald
• Scoop
• 3News
• parliament.nz
• SeanPlunketFaceBook
• Image: The Guardian

"Gambling is optional. It is a matter of a person's choice," he said.

"There is no specific teachings of the [Catholic] church with regards to gambling," says Father Ioane. "There are other forms of gambling which members of the church use for fundraising purposes like bingo for instance.

"As far as we're concerned, there are no teachings of the Catholic Church against gambling. There is no specific teaching that the Catholic Church is against gambling."

Last year, senior Catholic Deacon Kasiano Le'aupepe, speaking in his role of head of the the National Council of Churches (NCC), said "The love of money and the casinos will only drive people further into poverty," he warned. "People will start to save money to play in the casinos instead of feeding their families.

"The addiction will become too much; it will result in crime as people start stealing to fuel their addiction. Gambling opens the door to the influx of outsiders who have no fear for God."

Source

• Samoa Observer
• Image: pokies-casinos.com

The Auditor-General's report into the Government's handling of the SkyCity deal revealed the promotional incentive was sought by the casino in September 2010. However, the Government has ruled out the annual payment.

The 2009 feasibility study into the convention centre raised the likelihood of a "subvention fee", saying "a new venue would need a sufficient sales and marketing budget to develop appropriate subvention policies to attract conferences".

It added: "Subvention [incentive] policies recognise the economic value of conferences to host destinations."

The negotiators for the casino also wanted the Government to buy land owned by TVNZ after the size of the planned convention centre expanded in line with the Prime Minister's demand they "think outside the box".

A 1999 National Survey in New Zealand showed that New Zealand Catholics reported a higher average weekly gambling expenditure than other religious groups. The survey carried out by Abbott and Volberg noted that Protestant denomination historically have a strong moral stance against gambling and lobbied for legislative and other restrictions on gambling throughout the mid 19th and 20th centuries.

The same survey reported that half the problem gamblers were of Maori, Pacific or Asian ethnicity.

Source

• The New Zealand Herald
• 1877mylimit.org
• Image: MSN news

Reverend Maauga Motu, general secretary of Samoa's National Council of Churches, told Radio Australia's Pacific Beat less fortunate Samoans are likely to be hardest hit by the development of casinos.

"That's always the end result of playing games like this at the casino, they will always lose," he said. "Our concern is that the social life of the people will be spoilt."

Tautua Samoa leader Palusalue Faapo 11 agrees with the National Council of Churches (NCC) that the casino will only bring about more crimes and problems not only within the communities but families.

A Pacific service for New Zealand's Problem Gambling Foundation is urging Samoa to start a similar service. The manager of Mapu Maia, Pesio Ah-Hone Siitia, warns of more problem gamblers in Samoan communities, whether they be tourists or locals holding foreign passports. She says the impact gambling addicts can have on those around them is devastating.

"We've seen people losing everything, people losing their homes, their relationships and we've seen people actually losing their businesses, and for a nation or for a community like Samoa, who is a developing nation, and who are solely reliant on low wages and also remittances from overseas, we can definitely see that the impact of problem gambling will be very high."

Robbie Kearney, chief executive of Samoa's Gambling Control Authority, says the casinos will create jobs for local people and attract tourism dollars to Samoa. "Once we've reached the limits of what we can supply from the local Samoan population then the conversation will go to whether they can get visas to allow people to come in and work," he said. "But their commitment in the first instance is to employ locals if at all possible."

Sources

• Radio Australia Pacific Beat
• Talamua Online
• Radio New Zealand International
• Image: The Guardian

Church leaders have told the local press that they doubt a casino will benefit tourism, warning of negative outcomes for the poor.

A Tahiti-based businessman, Franck Falletta, has offered to take over the loss-making hotel if he can turn it into a casino.

In a further development, Walter Zweifel reports.

"The president Oscar Temaru has stunned the public with news that he is in talks with unnamed Russians to save the hotel with its more than 100 employees."

"He has dismissed a plan by a local businessman to convert the hotel into a casino, saying occult powers are at play while the businessman claims that he is guided by divine forces."

"The churches have also spoken out against the idea of casinos, which Mr Temaru says is not on the Russians' agenda."

Source

• Radio New Zealand International
• Radio New Zealand International
• Image: Carnival Conquest

Last week the Chairman of NCC, Reverend Kasiano Le'aupepe, a deacon in the Catholic church, said he feared the perils of gambling will shake Samoa's Christian foundation.

Tuilaepa said that Le'aupepe must have been "joking."

The Prime Minister, who is also the chairman of the Samoa Rugby Union, has also been in the news for suggesting that the IRB is racist and its referees are idiots.

In the course of an interview after the match in which Samoa narrowly lost to Scotland the Prime Minister said, among other things that "If the siren sounds and the referee continues the match unnecessarily, then a rock hitting his head would be justified!"

The editor of Savali, the Samoan Government's official newspaper, Tupuola Terry Tavita, says that Tuilaepa's remarks have been misunderstood. "At the heart of the matter is, there are subtle nuances in the Samoan language and particular to Samoan dialogue and its intended Samoan audience that gets lost when translated to English," said Tupuola.

"What is good-humoured ribbing when said in Samoan could mean something else when quoted in a formal newspaper article in English and read by people who are not accustomed to Samoan humour and the Samoan colloquy," he said.

Source

• Samoa Observer
• Radio New Zealand International
• Savali
• Savali
• Image: Flickr

One is expected to be on the main island of Upolu and the other on the beautiful Savaii.

A $400-500 million resort at Sasina village on Savaii has also been approved.

But the Chief Executive officer of the South Pacific Development group says he had no idea the government was going to put a casino on Savaii.

Listen to interview on Radio Australia

In December 2011 One Hundred Sands Limited, which is a subsidiary of a US company, was given permission by the Fijian Government to operate the country's first casino. The 290 million Fiji dollars (114.29 million US dollars) casino resort and convention centre is located in Denarau Island.

When he made the announcement in December, Prime Minister Bainimarama said the government chose One Hundred Sands Limited because of its strong affiliation with native American culture which provided a malleable fusion between the Western ideals of casino gaming with the strong cultural values of tribal and community life.

Announcing the approval of the second Casino, the Permanent Secretary for Public Enterprises, Tourism and Communication, Elizabeth Powell, said people needed to take things in perspective and realise that gambling had been in existence in the country in one form or another for decades.

"Lets be realistic. Gaming in Fiji is already widespread we've got lotto, scratchies, bingo and sports betting people have been gambling for some time but in an unregulated manner," she said.

"With the introduction of the casino, we will see the establishment of controls via the Fijian Gaming Commission Control Board. This means that for the first time we will monitor and control all forms of legalised gambling in the country not just the casino alone," Powell said.

A Fijian tourism official has highlighted the important role to be played by the multi-million dollar casino in the tourism industry, saying it will bring about a new market segment in the economic sector.

Dixon Seeto, President of the Fiji Hotel and Tourism Association, said the casino resort which includes a 1,500 seat capacity convention center will be able to cater for large conferences which no other hotels or resorts could cater for in Fiji at the moment.

He added apart from just being a casino, it has major benefits for the whole tourism industry and economy a driving force in the state's revenue, while the tourism industry continues to play an important role in Fiji's economic development, contributing significantly to income and employment generation both directly and indirectly.

Source

• The Fiji Times
• The Fiji Times
• The Fiji Times
• Image: Fiji Holidays

Tenders will soon be put out for the first casinos to be built in Samoa, but local people will be "saved from their own stupidity" and will not be able to use them.

A law passed last October provided licensing for two casinos, one for each of Samoa's main islands.

The move was opposed by opposition politicians and many church groups, who said it would cause addiction problems in communities that were already facing financial hardship.

However, work went ahead and Samoan Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sa'ilele Malielegaoi, who is also the minister in charge of the casinos, said officials were now deciding on a process for tendering the building and operation of the facilities.

Source: Stuff