Auckland Mayor Len Brown says he expects the Goverment to include measures to mitigate harm from gambling, if the Sky City convention centre goes ahead.
Sky City and the Government are negotiating a deal that could allow the casino to have more gaming machines, in return for building a $350 million convention centre.
Mr Brown, says he is not involved in the negotiations and the government has not told the council the details of the final proposal.
He says the convention centre would be good for the economy and deliver more jobs, but he is also concerned about the negative impacts of more pokies.
If the deal goes ahead, he expects the Government to include strong measures to mitigate harm.
Business leaders frustrated
Other business leaders are frustrated that progress on building an international convention centre in Auckland has being derailed by talk about politics and pokies.
The chief executive of Auckland's Heart of the City business group, Alex Swney, says those topics have been a distraction.
He says New Zealand attracts just 0.5% of international conferences and needs a convention centre to attract more.
The chairman of the Tourism Industry Association, Norm Thompson, says a new venue could bring in 30,000 visitors and be worth $90 million to the economy each year.
He says a centre in New Zealand would be more attractive to conference organisers than centres in Australia because of the lower exchange rate.
