Big ups to Bryce Edwards' NZ Politics Daily Digest for pointing me towards this feature story on the great rugby racing beer swindle known as pub pokies.
There is a ton of money in pokies. Wherever there is that much money at
stake, corruption and special interests take a strong interest. I've known about this rort since its inception. The old man crowed how the Palmy Cozzie Club paid for its new building and refurbishment from a single year's worth of taking from their pokies. You can see his influence to this day, in the way rugby, racing and beer gets most of the pokie dividend.
I'm pretty confident that more money is poured into rugby, racing and beer every year than what the country spends on Crown Research Institutes, Apprenticeship Training and Special Needs Education combined. Something is terribly wrong with this picture. If you think throwing money into pokies is a waste of money, there must be better things to do with their proceeds than line the pockets of the fat incumbents.
