Locals the biggest gamblers on pokies

by Abigail Caspari abbey.caspari@dailypost.co.nz
At least two Rotorua people a month seeking budget advice admit they have a gambling problem, a budget adviser says.

Figures provided by the Problem Gambling Foundation show that in the year to the end of June Rotorua people spent $24 million on the pokies - that equates to $370 per person per year - the fourth highest per person spend in New Zealand.

Kawerau people may have only spent an eighth of what is spent in Rotorua but the town had the highest per person spend per year in New Zealand with $448.



Budget advisers say at least two people a month seeking help admit their problem but there are others who won't admit they are gambling their money away.

"The problem with gamblers is that they don't like to admit it. There could well be more than two [a month]," says Rotorua Budget Advisory Service education and public relations officer Pearl Pavitt.

She said they are only made aware of a gambling problem by the person's own admission. Budget advisers did not ask their clients if they had a gambling problem as to do so would be in breach of their code of ethics which states they should not be judgmental.

Generally, once a person admitted they had gambling problem they were generally referred to agencies like the Problem Gambling Foundation, Mrs Pavitt said.

Today is national Gamble Free Day and welfare agencies like the Salvation Army are using the day to raise awareness about the impact on New Zealand communities from problem gambling.

Figures provided by the Problem Gambling Foundation show that in the year to the end of June Rotorua people spent $24 million on the pokies - that equates to $370 per person per year - the fourth highest per person spend in New Zealand.

Kawerau people may have only spent an eighth of what is spent in Rotorua but it had the highest per person spend per year in New Zealand with $448.

Nationally, New Zealanders spent $938 million on the pokies in the year to the end of June which equates to $233 per person.

Major Lynette Hutson who oversees the Salvation Army's Oasis Centres for Problem Gambling, said about 60 per cent of those using the Manukau Community Ministries centre in recent weeks said they had been affected by their own gambling and/or that of someone close to them.

However, Rotorua's Salvation Army community ministries manager Rob Gardiner said he didn't know how many of the people they dealt with had a gambling problem as it was a "hidden" problem.

"They don't admit they gamble. They just tell us they have an inadequate income."

A year ago Rotorua district councillors overturned an earlier decision to increase the cap on the number of poker machines in Rotorua.

They decided to keep the cap at 380 but some had earlier wanted that number to increase to 420 as part of a review of its Gambling Venue Policy. When the Rotorua District Council introduced its Gambling Venue Policy in 2004 there were 518 pokie machines in the city and it was decided the number should be capped at 380, a process expected to happen gradually through premises closing. A year ago there were 432 machines in use in the city with 81 not in use.





Meanwhile, the Midland branch of the Problem Gambling Foundation said anecdotally there had been an increase in middle-aged women gambling, according to its health promoter Max Llewelyn.

He said women, especially those who are lonely or living alone, tended to form a relationship with a poker machine with characteristics similar to having an affair.

"They gamble to numb themselves," Mr Llewelyn said.

BY THE NUMBERS *Money spent on poker machines July 2007 to June 2008:

*Kawerau: $3.1 million, $448 per person

*Thames/Coromandel: $11 million, $425 person

*South Waikato: $8.6 million, $381 per person

*$24 million, $370 per person

*fNew Zealand: $938 million, $233 per person