The Gambling Act 2003 required territorial authorities to adopt a Class 4 Gambling Venue and Board Venue Policy for their district.

Council consent is required for new premises (and sometimes for increases in machine numbers for existing premises) as part of the Gambling Act overall licensing process.

Class 4 venues use or involve gaming machines.

Meaning of class 4 gambling

In this Act, class 4 gambling is —

1. gambling that is not gambling of another class and that satisfies the following criteria:
   1. the net proceeds from the gambling are applied to or distributed for authorised purposes:
   2. no commission is paid to, or received by, a person for conducting the gambling:
   3. the gambling satisfies relevant game rules; and
2. gambling that utilises or involves a gaming machine; or
3. gambling categorised by the Secretary as class 4 gambling.

In order to obtain Council consent, applicants must provide information so that Council is satisfied the Class 4 Gambling Venue and Board Venue Policy criteria are being met.

TDC last reviewed this policy in 2010.

• TDC Class 4 Gambling Venue and Board Venue Policy (39.5 kB)
• TDC Class 4 Gambling Venue Application Form (13.81 kB)

Note: Applications must be accompanied with a deposit fee. When the total cost of an application exceeds the deposit fee, the additional fees are charged at the rates specified in the Fees and Charges.

The Council also reserves its discretion to refund part of the fixed fee if the work required to process the application is less than usual. The fee includes GST.

The Gambling Act is administered by the Department of Internal Affairs. There are some very useful information sheets on their website -  www.dia.govt.nz