The amount lost to pokie machines in Palmerston North district last year was more than $23 million - or $358 for every adult living there. Photo / Whakaata Māori
The amount lost to pokie machines in Palmerston North district last year was more than $23 million - or $358 for every adult living there. Photo / Whakaata Māori
The amount of money being lost to Manawatū communities through pokie machine gambling continues to increase despite attempts to curb their number.
Many local authorities in New Zealand have opted to take a “sinking lid” approach when framing policy around pokie machine venues and while the amount of machines had decreased, the amount of money being lost continues to rise.
In 2023, more than $1.1 billion was lost to pokies across Aotearoa New Zealand. There are 14,226 Class 4 machines currently operating in pubs and clubs in New Zealand. In 2003, there were 25,221 machines.
Problem Gambling Foundation Advocacy and Public Health director Andree Froude said the spend on pokies nationally continues to trend upward despite a decrease in the number of machines.
Problem Gambling Foundation Advocacy and Public Health director Andree Froude.
“The amount of money being lost is frankly eye-watering,” she said.
“The money is coming from communities that can least afford to lose it.”
The amount lost in Palmerston North district last year was more than $23 million - or $358 for every adult - while in the Manawatū District the losses were almost $5m for the same period - or $214 for every adult living there.
Froud said a majority of gambling sites are located in areas of medium-high deprivation. Recent data published by the Department of Internal Affairs showed that 603 of the 991 Class 4 gambling venues in New Zealand are located in medium-high or very-high deprivation areas.
That was backed up by a report commissioned by the Ministry of Health that found that pokies in the most deprived areas accounted for more than half of the total losses on pokies.
Organisations funded through gambling faced an ethical dilemma, she said. Trusts and societies are required to return 40% of money lost on pokies to the community by way of grants or applied funding, yet an estimated 30-60% of profit came from problem gamblers.
Pokie machines have bright lights. Photo / Duncan Brown
It was a broken system that inextricably linked gambling harm with the survival of community groups, sports and services, she said.
“The whole system has created an unhealthy reliance on funding. We know there are great organisations that do great things, but we need to start realising where the money is coming from rather than where it is going to,” she said.
“There is no amount of charity that makes up for the harm caused in these communities.”
Froude said research commissioned by the DIA showed a redistributive effect of grant money from more deprived communities to less deprived communities
Overall, 26% of the money lost on pokies came from the wealthier communities, although those wealthier communities received 88% of the grants, she said.
It is also concerning that gambling harm affected certain sectors of society more than others, with research showing Māori, Pacific, Asian and young people are disproportionately impacted by gambling.
She said problem gambling could lead to financial problems, employment issues, relationship breakdowns, poor parenting, poverty, poor mental health and even suicide.
Pokie machines were a highly addictive form of gambling and could raise dopamine levels in the brain that could be likened to effects of using a Class A drug like cocaine, she said.
More than $1 billion was spent on pokie machines last year. Photo / Andrew Warner
The machines were a continuous form of gambling. The short turnaround time between bets and the ability to play multiple games in quick succession, which made player engagement continuous.
Local authorities review their Gambling Venues Policy every three years, with the ability to limit the number of gaming machines in their district.
Froude said while a sinking lid policy was one tool available to minimise gambling harm, it didn’t go nearly far enough or work fast enough to be an effective measure.
She said any sinking lid policy should use a heavier lid, where venues shouldn’t be allowed to relocate or merge under any circumstances.
Palmerston North City Council voted last year to introduce a “sinking lid” approach to its gambling venues policy, whereby no new licences would be issued in the event of a venue closing, although there were some conditions allowing for mergers.
It currently has 194 machines across 21 different venues.
Manawatū District Council is currently reviewing its Gambling Venues Policy although its preferred option was to keep the status quo limiting the amount of pokie machines in the region to 90 and not to introduce a sinking lid policy.
It was a region where 80% of pokie venues are located in areas of high deprivation, and just $2,309,760m of the $4.85m that was lost in 2023 was returned to organisations based in that area.
MDC will consider all submissions at a November 7 meeting before making a final decision at a November 21 meeting.
Meanwhile, problems associated with gambling harm include:
- Impacts on an individual’s physical, emotional and psychological health
