In some respects the gaming maching funding part is a red herring.
Financial equality is an issue that spans many countries. Having a financially lop-sided league is eventually fatal.
If we're going to try to tweak the current system rather than overhauling it then we're just going to end up with a new version of the past.
Maybe that's fine. Generally sports administrators are only in each job for a short stint, so I'm sure the current croud at NZF will be keen to "revamp" the national league in their image and then will move on to leave volunteers to pick up the pieces.
I am not expecting any meaningful improvement, just a revision and the substitution of some problems for some other problems.