All 11 venues permitted to have pokies in Taupō are in the most economically deprived communities in the district, according to the New Zealand Index of Deprivation, with 155 machines in operation, four more at the end of 2021 when compared to the end of the previous year.
Taupō, like several provincial centres across Aotearoa New Zealand, has no “sinking lid” in their Class 4 Policy. That means that the number of pokie machines could go up.
On average, every pokie machine in the Taupō District Council region makes on average $61,752 last year. Compare that to the median individual income for people living in the district of $30,300.00 a year, it means that a pokie machine is making twice as much as individual living in Taupo on average each year.
We produce factsheets about Class 4 pokies (pokies in pubs, clubs and TABs) in every Territorial Local Authority around Aotearoa which you can download from our website here.
