Nga Manga Puriri clinical lead, Wini Frood, said gambling is a continuing trend in Northland. Photo / Yolisa Tswanya
Nga Manga Puriri clinical lead, Wini Frood, said gambling is a continuing trend in Northland. Photo / Yolisa Tswanya
Pokie machines in Northland swallowed nearly half a billion dollars in 2024, with the Far North accounting for nearly half of that.
It’s a staggering sum that one Northland gambling support service says reflects the deep grip that gambling has on the region.
Ngā Manga Pūriri provides free support for whānau experiencing harm from problem gambling and other addictions across Te Tai Tokerau. Clinical lead, Wini Frood says the fallout from gambling is becoming harder to ignore.
“It’s everywhere. Older wāhine on the pokies, young people betting online … It is so easy for our tāngata to put their debit card into the system and slowly and methodically empty their accounts, leaving bills unpaid, cupboards empty only to repeat this cycle week after week.”
According to figures from the Department of Internal Affairs , the total turnover from pokies in the 39 Northland venues for the 2024 calendar year was $452,938,428.
The Far North’s 17 gambling venues accounted for $195,930,218 of that.
Northlanders lost over $40 million at pokies across the region last year. Photo / NZME
The department’s director of gambling regulatory services, Vicki Scott, said the total money lost by people playing the pokies in Northland was over $40.4 million.
Department of Internal Affairs director of gambling regulatory services, Vicki Scott.
Frood said because of the remoteness of some of their clients, online gambling was quickly becoming the preferred method.
“At least 75% of my clients that are Māori gamble online.”
Frood said Ngā Manga Pūriri has noticed an increase in people seeking assistance, particularly with online gambling problems.
“Because of the prominence of meth and other drugs – gambling as an addiction has been minimised”
She said the rise in influencers being used to promote gambling via social media was manipulative.
“I think it’s clever by the industry, it’s insidious how they have managed to reach our people through ‘influencers’ who some of our people look up to and certainly follow.”
She said she didn’t believe the system was doing enough to protect vulnerable communities from gambling harm.
“If anything, we have lost both funding and access to research and collation of data.”
Scott said the amount lost at machines was down 2% from 2023 and Internal Affairs continued to hold the industry to high standards.
“We have inspected 20 venues in Northland in the last six months, including eight in the Far North. Where we found non-compliance, we provided education and assistance to improve gambling-related harm outcomes for the community.”
“[The department] monitors known influencers who have promoted gambling in the past … We continue to monitor influencers and will take further action where appropriate.”
Scott said the department has been ensuring the industry understands its obligations over monitoring patrons.
