Rotorua Daily Post
  • Rotorua Daily Post home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Residential property listings
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Rural
  • Sport

Locations

  • Tauranga
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō & Tūrangi

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales

Weather

  • Rotorua
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Rotorua Daily Post

$56k spent daily on pokies

Teuila Fuatai
By Teuila Fuatai
Rotorua Daily Post·
12 May, 2013 10:00 PM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Rotorua gaming machine spending may have dropped during the past year but local gamblers are still pouring more than $56,000 a day into pokies.

Local punters spent $1.3 million less on pokies in the year ending March this year, compared with the previous 12 months, a 6 per cent drop.

Figures from the Department of Internal Affairs show nearly $20.6 million was dropped into Rotorua gaming machines during the year - equating to nearly $56,400 daily.

Rotorua Citizens Club manager Dick Hyland said managing problem gambling was a top priority for his staff.

"The gaming machines are hidden away so they're not out in the open, like some clubs.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"Even the jackpot sign is not visible to the rest of the club."

Patrons in the club's gaming room, which houses 18 machines, were also monitored by staff, Mr Hyland said.

Meanwhile, the number of Rotorua machines also declined during the past year, down from 408 to 398.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Nationally, an overall decline in pokie machine expenditure, licence holders, gambling venues and gaming machines is being applauded by New Zealand's anti-gambling foundation.

Pokie spending dropped 4 per cent in the year to March, from $865.4 million to $828.7 million.

Licence holder numbers fell from 359 to 353, venue numbers dropped from 1403 to 1367, and the number of gaming machines declined from 18,001 to 17,542.

Rotorua district councillor and deputy chairwoman of the Problem Gambling Foundation Maureen Waaka said Rotorua needed to adopt a sinking-lid policy for gaming machines.

"The number of pokie machines out at the moment have not really been affected by way of a decline because of the lack of the sinking-lid policy [which] has not been adopted by all areas.

"Those areas, where we do have problems, are some of the [city's] worst areas," Mrs Waaka said.

Redundancies and high unemployment often drove people to seek relief in gambling, she said.

"There is a relief sought in making up the shortfall in the income in the house and that really only has a detrimental effect in the long-run."

Problem Gambling Foundation head Graeme Ramsey said the decline was largely because of people's awareness of the harm caused by pokies. However, pokie addiction among young New Zealanders was an increasing concern for the foundation, he said.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

Rotorua Daily Post

Baywide rugby: Whaka look to break 19-year drought

Rotorua Daily Post

Revealed: ‘Major milestone’ for education system announced by Government 

Rotorua Daily Post

'Mum, I’m a strong boy aren’t I?’ Murdered 5-year-old's mother breaks down in court over final phone call with son


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Recommended for you

Newcastle Knights star reportedly considering shock switch to rugby union
Sport

Newcastle Knights star reportedly considering shock switch to rugby union

'Grateful': Rescued German backpacker details Australian bush ordeal, miraculous survival
World

'Grateful': Rescued German backpacker details Australian bush ordeal, miraculous survival

Man high on mushrooms crashes car into garage, with a preschooler on his lap
New Zealand

Man high on mushrooms crashes car into garage, with a preschooler on his lap

Auckland ambulance patients being diverted to non-hospital clinics
New Zealand

Auckland ambulance patients being diverted to non-hospital clinics

Cambodia to implement military conscription amid Thailand tensions
World

Cambodia to implement military conscription amid Thailand tensions

'Speechless': Woman's lost engagement ring miraculously found with stranger's help
Lifestyle

'Speechless': Woman's lost engagement ring miraculously found with stranger's help



Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

Baywide rugby: Whaka look to break 19-year drought
Rotorua Daily Post

Baywide rugby: Whaka look to break 19-year drought

Whakarewarewa beat Greerton Marist 25-17 to reach the Baywide final.

14 Jul 05:17 AM
Revealed: ‘Major milestone’ for education system announced by Government 
Rotorua Daily Post

Revealed: ‘Major milestone’ for education system announced by Government 

14 Jul 04:00 AM
'Mum, I’m a strong boy aren’t I?’ Murdered 5-year-old's mother breaks down in court over final phone call with son
Rotorua Daily Post

'Mum, I’m a strong boy aren’t I?’ Murdered 5-year-old's mother breaks down in court over final phone call with son

14 Jul 02:41 AM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Rotorua Daily Post e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Rotorua Daily Post
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP
search by queryly Advanced Search