Electronic monitoring of all gaming machines comes closer

03/05/2004
Electronic monitoring of all gaming machines in pubs and clubs has come a step closer with the start of the formal tender process to implement an electronic monitoring system (EMS).

The Director of the Department of Internal Affairs’ Gaming and Censorship Regulation Group, Keith Manch, said that the Department published advertisements at the weekend and detailed information is available on the Government Electronic Tendering Service website, www.gets.govt.nz

Mr Manch said that EMS is a major IT project that will link more than 22,000 gaming machines at more than 2,000 venues to one central monitor.

EMS will monitor how much money is gambled on each machine, how much it pays out in prizes to gamblers and how much should be banked.

Currently this has to be done manually. Staff from the “society” that owns the machines or the pub where they are hosted must visit each machine individually and record its meter readings.

“The integrity of EMS will be far higher than the current system,” Mr Manch said. “Incorrect banking is the most common problem identified in audits. It is an issue in most of the licence cancellations and suspensions, and in the formal warnings given to societies.”

EMS is a powerful monitoring tool and, in addition to providing financial information, its functions would include:

• ensuring that all software being used on machines is identical to the approved versions
• detecting software failures
• detecting any tampering with a machine or software
• turning machines on and off and altering machine configuration.

The Gambling Act, which was passed in September last year, requires that all gaming machines be connected to EMS.

There is a misconception in the gambling sector that machines will not have to be connected until 18 March 2007. While this is the final date, there will be various deadlines before then and most machines will be connected well before that date, with the first likely to be next year.

Specific dates will depend on the rollout of EMS and the Department will give as much notice as possible.

Tender process

The tendering process for implementing EMS has started with a combined registration of interest and request for information (ROI/RFI) being issued.

Vendors, or consortiums of vendors, are being asked to supply information that will enable the Department to assess their general suitability to provide an EMS.

In about the middle of the year, those organisations that respond and are assessed to have the appropriate personnel, financial and technical capacity will be considered for the proposal stage. It is likely that no more than four organisations will be invited to submit proposals.

The preferred supplier will then be selected from those who submit proposals.

Rollout of EMS will begin next year and the Department will provide updated information on the tender process as dates and other details are confirmed.

Media contact:

Keith Manch Cellular 027 445 6420
Director Gaming and Censorship Regulation

Vince Cholewa
Communications Advisor Phone 04 495 9350, Cellular 027 272 4270


Potential vendors

Potential vendors with questions about the ROI/RFI should not contact Mr Manch or Mr Cholewa. Instead, they should contact:
EMS Project Manager
Malcolm Stayner
Department of Internal Affairs
PO Box 805
Wellington
Email: malcolm.stayner@dia.govt.nz
Telephone: +64 4 494 0680