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What is Burning Diamonds?
Under Section 106 of New Zealand’s Gambling Act 2003, a class 4 licence holder, also known as a “corporate society” by the regulator, “must apply or distribute the net proceeds from class 4 gambling only to or for an authorised purpose specified in the corporate society’s licence”.
The DIA worked directly with class 4 gambling operators (commonly known as pokies trusts), and discovered ‘widespread issues’ such as cases where money that should have been available for community grants was instead spent on society expenses, such as the purchase of additional gaming machines.
Vicki Scott, the DIA’s director of gambling, said the investigation had delivered significant results, while stressing that work to improve compliance and ensure communities received their share of gambling proceeds would continue.
What is Burning Diamonds?
These comments echo a similar sentiment emphasised at the country’s Directorate of Communications panel event on illegal betting and addiction on 10 September. Deputy Minister of Interior Ali Çelik suggested that curbing addiction would lead to a decrease in illegal betting activity.
Çelik said: “If we can eliminate this sector, we will also minimise the funds flowing into the hands of the next criminal organisation.”
The president of the Turkish Green Crescent Society, Associate Professor Mehmet Dinç, expanded on this point, highlighting the relationship between supply and demand in the fight against illegal betting.
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All nine of Atlantic City’s casinos agreed to new labour deals this summer without a strike, although its union opted for just one-year deals instead of the typical length of three or more years. This was in response to increased uncertainty related to looming competition from both New York City casinos and New Jersey’s own online gaming industry.
In Las Vegas, the Culinary Union has unionised the entire Las Vegas Strip and secured historic wage increases during the last round of negotiations. Those deals are about halfway done now, and Culinary is no stranger to strikes, having used them as leverage to secure new deals in the run-up to the inaugural Formula One Las Vegas Grand Prix in 2023 and and Super Bowl the following February.
Jess has covered the global gaming industry since 2022. A native of Reno, Nevada, he’d like to note that it’s Ne-va-da, not Ne-VAH-da.
