The Government is finalising a new deal to electronically manage and monitor non-casino gaming machines in a bid to tackle double-dipping and misappropriation of charitable funds.
The move comes as official figures reveal there are fewer gaming machines and venues in the South than at the end of last year, and as proceeds from the sector decline.
Greek-owned Intralot New Zealand is set to provide an online licensing system and cash-tracking scheme to follow gaming machine money to the point it is allocated as community grants.
Department of Internal Affairs gambling compliance group director Mike Hill confirmed the deal would be an add-on to the electronic monitoring system Intralot was contracted to deliver in a six-year, $35 million deal signed in 2005.
Its cost was still secret - some details were being finalised - but Mr Hill expected "significant savings" as the collaboration capitalised on what was already spent on the current system, which went live in March 2007.
Societies must give at least 37.12% of the money they make from gaming machines back to the community.
The new system would give officials a "single view" of cash flows, allowing them to track money from the machine to its final allocation as a grant.
It would help officials see exactly where money generated from the country's 19,115 non-casino machines was going and should mean more of the about $350 million in pokie revenue made its way back to the community.
"Theft and misappropriation of gambling spend [community money] will be less likely. Double-dipping by grant applicants will be prevented. The integrity of the grants process will be enhanced," Mr Hill told the Otago Daily Times.
"[The department] would expect to see an actual dollar increase in the proportion of money being available to the community over the long term."
That allocation might increase even as gaming proceeds slowed.
In the South, proceeds dropped more than $778,000 in the March quarter compared with the previous quarter, Internal Affairs figures show.
Nationally, the drop-off was about $18.9 million.
The system would replace the paper-based licensing process next year.
It would help officials stop "inappropriate" people entering the sector, Mr Hill said.
Asked whether the contract went to open tender, Mr Hill said there were clear benefits in collaborating with the incumbent supplier, that Intralot had a proven track record and provided a system that leveraged off the investment already made, and that the department applied principles set down by the Auditor-general.
Intralot has contracts in 50 countries.
