Bad deal

The current National Party-led government is dealing New Zealand a VERY bad hand. Much of that has already been discussed elsewhere, but one thing that hasn't been talked about in the SkyCity deal for a convention centre is that Auckland's sinking lid on pokies (slot machines) means that over time they'll be concentrated at SkyCity. That matters because the profits from pokies in pubs and clubrooms go to community groups, while the profits from SkyCity go overseas.

So, not only will the community have to deal with more problem gambling and the problems related to it, we'll also have community groups being left to do more with less money. In contrast, the overseas owners of SkyCity get more profits, with the National Party-led government’s legislation trying to guarantee that those profits won’t be affected by future (non-National Party) governments.

So, yeah: The current National Party-led government is dealing New Zealand a VERY bad hand.

See also: "Green Party threatens SkyCity law repeal" - Stuff

I originally published a different version of this post on Facebook.