Community Gaming

Get an understanding of how Class 4 Gambling works in New Zealand and how communities benefit.

Supporting your local community

Community gaming returns more to your local community than any other form of gambling

The Four Winds Foundation's operations are guided by a strategic plan that emphasises responsible gaming, community engagement, and ethical governance. We offer funding for activities that benefit a significant portion of local communities, in a non-commercial way.

Here’s how we make a difference:

Grant Programmes: We provide financial support to eligible organisations through a transparent and efficient grant application process. Our Grants Committee meets monthly to review and approve applications, ensuring timely distribution of funds.
Local Focus: We prioritise funding for initiatives in communities where our gaming venues are based, ensuring that the benefits of community gaming stay within the community.
Partner Venues: Our partner venues play a crucial role in generating funds for community support. We work closely with them to ensure that their operations align with our mission and values.
Safe Gaming: We are committed to promoting safe and responsible gaming practices. Our team continually develops and implements measures to prevent gambling harm and support the well-being of our patrons.
Good News: We celebrate the success of our grant recipients by sharing their stories. These testimonials highlight the positive impact of our funding on various community projects and initiatives.

The Charitable Gaming or Community Gaming Trusts and Companies, which operate machines in pubs and hotels under Class 4 Gambling, are required to distribute 40 percent of their revenue to not-for-profit community groups. By comparison, casinos in New Zealand return less than 2% of their annual profits to these communities. Class 4 Gambling delivers approximately $250m per year. In addition, Class 4 Gambling provides Government with over $200m a year in taxes and levies, such as the annual payment of around $13m to the Ministry of Health to fund their problem gambling strategy.

Our Venues' Problem Gambling Policy

Four Winds Foundation Best Practices Statement

"Problem Gambling Awareness and Harm Minimisation training is good for the community and makes good business sense. Four Winds Foundation is proud of its regional New Zealand roots and the benefits the local communities gain from our gaming venues. The Four Winds Foundation training policies, and our responsible hosts who operate our venues, combine to ensure that our venues’ practices exceed legislation and regulation"

"A problem gambler means a person whose gambling causes harm or may cause harm"

Gambling Act 2023

Social Responsibility and Importance of this Policy

We are dedicated to ensuring our venues are "Community Friendly" and will be diligent in our monitoring of our patrons and strict when enforcing the rules and regulations of the Gaming Act 2003.  
Four Winds takes its harm prevention duties seriously with a goal to eliminate harm from our venues. We have invested in the latest technologies to help identify and eliminate problem gambling.

Our venues are committed to meeting their social responsibility fully and do not wish to receive monies from players who cannot afford the losses. Gaming machines exist purely for the purposes of raising funds for deserving local Kiwi communities. There is no point in taking money from members of the community that contributes to hardship and suffering in that community. That is what this problem gambling policy is all about and why it is so important for staff to be trained and effective in identifying and assisting actual and potential problem gamblers.

If problem gambling occurs at our venues, then we urge you to contact us so we can immediately address the issue. All Four Winds venues staff are trained to identify problem gambling and to help where necessary. All Four Winds venues contain on-site material that provides detailed information on harm prevention & contact details for free professional assistance.

Testimonials

Here is what our Grant recipients have to say about Four Winds Foundation.

Community Stories

See how Four Winds Foundation has made a difference in communities around the country.

Our Partner Venues

A directory of the venues nearest to your community