KEY POINTS:
Some Chinese students are gambling for days on end and ending up homeless while others treat it like a professional job, a new settlers conference at Auckland University has been told.
Wendy Li, who is researching Chinese international gambling for her masters degree at Waikato University, said some
students had admitted gambling from 10 hours up to three days in a row.
"They'll take a couple of minutes out for a snack and stay in their cars."
Such self-diagnosed problem gamblers preferred casino tables to the pokies as they had higher returns and involved more skills.
Ms Li said the gambling had badly affected their studies, finances and health. "Some have experienced homelessness and approached loan sharks."
Ms Li interviewed 12 mostly polytechnic or university students who had come on student visas. They had categorised themselves into three groups: recreational, problem and occupational.
Ms Li said the students, from China and aged over 18, told her their experience of gambling in their home country came from playing mahjong, which they generally regarded as just a game.
Mahjong had a function in China to establish and preserve social networks where regulation and parental supervision helped prevent it from developing into a problem.
The students describing themselves as recreational gamblers gambled from one or two hours up to five or six hours at a time.
They tended to set spending limits ranging from $30 to $100 a session and were motivated by socialising rather than the desire to make money.
Ms Li said one student gambled 112 hours a week in what he described as a profession, although admitting not making a living from it. His approach was one of self-control and discipline, employing strategies to win.
Students who gave up gambling were motivated by family circumstances or financial hardship.
"At the beginning, they struggle with the urge to gamble ... Some want to gamble one more time to make big money before they leave New Zealand."
John Stansfield, chief executive of the Problem Gambling Foundation, said the research did not surprise him. He had heard cases of people gambling five days in a row which was an indictment on host responsibility and proof in-house programmes to counter problem gambling did not work.
Even students who had reported gambling up to five or six hours at a time demonstrated unsafe behaviour.
It was difficult to assess the proportion of problem gamblers who were Chinese but a check at the Auckland casino would show "few people with blonde hair".
Mr Stansfield said Chinese people were less likely to come forward to seek help. The foundation's Asian services team had advised him the word "counselling" was absent from Chinese culture.
Problem gambling was an issue for many new migrant groups especially when they had spare time on their hands.
They could be attracted to casinos where, in a relatively artificial environment, they could learn the rules quickly and feel part of a social milieu even if they were not socially engaged.
SkyCity spokeswoman Rosalie Nelson said the casino took its host responsibility extremely seriously and staff were trained to look for signs of problem gambling to assist with early identification.
Claims about Chinese students spending extended periods at the casino and taking breaks in their car would be of real concern but SkyCity was not aware of such incidents.
"If it was occurring we would want it bought to our attention and we would respond immediately."