A Rotorua gambler lost his family home after spending $50,000 on the pokies and is now living in a South Island caravan park because he is so ashamed.
The Daily Post can reveal gamblers in Rotorua are losing $61,000 a day on the city's pokie machines - or $22 million a year - and each week an average of two more people ask for help with their addiction.
According to Rotorua Problem Gambling Foundation counsellor Stewart Best a Rotorua single mother's two children have gone hungry more than once because she took her shopping money to the pokies.
These are two horror stories Mr Best has heard just this month and he has had to increase his counselling sessions from one day to two days a week because of the increased demand. He said Rotorua features in the top 10 cities for problem gambling in New Zealand.
The scale of the problem has been revealed in latest figures from the Department of Internal Affairs, which controls gambling in New Zealand, and the Ministry of Health, which offers help to those who have gambling problems.
Rotorua's 416 pokie machines account for 2.27 per cent of the nation's total pokie machine spend, and gaming proceeds are 2.55 per cent of the national total. The total put into machines in Rotorua in the 12 months to June was $148 million. "This month I have already seen a client who gambled $50,000 on the pokies and it cost their family their house," Mr Best said. "They're now living on a caravan park on the South Island as they are so ashamed [of what's happened]. But I've had one client come to me in a big hole and he has been clean for eight weeks, he's back at work and he's sorted things with his bank manager - he's saved his house so he's feeling positive. Gambling is an addiction. It can't be stopped cold turkey."
Rotorua's gambling figures are only overshadowed by cities with casinos, such as Auckland, Christchurch and Hamilton and those with greater populations, such as Tauranga and Wellington.
City gamblers receiving help from agencies such as the Problem Gambling Foundation have quadrupled to 217 a year, according to the Ministry of Health. One problem gambler can affect between five and 10 people - which means up to 2170 people in Rotorua are being affected each year. The Problem Gambling Foundation claims one in six New Zealanders says a family member has gone without something they needed or not paid a bill because of gambling. Mr Best said he used to play poker socially "from time to time".
"But since I've started this I can't do it any more. I've looked in the eyes of young children who aren't eating because mum has spent the money on pokies."
With the pokie machines programmed to pay out an average of 85 per cent, Rotorua gamblers are feeding in about $406,675 a day to get back $345,674 - leaving an average daily profit of $61,000 from the city's 416 machines. Calculated over a year, a total of about $148 million is being gambled through pokies to return $126 million in winnings and $22 million to the charitable gaming trusts which own the machines.
The heaviest gambling takes place in central Rotorua where there are 18 venues with 288 machines between them.
The average profit per machine in the quarter to June was $170 a day. Machines in Hillcrest, Reporoa and Tihiotonga were the next most profitable at $112 a day, in Ngongotaha and Selwyn Heights the profits were $106 a day, while pokies in Fenton Park, Mangakakahi and Pukehangi reaped $103 a day profits.
The Daily Post was unable to contact the The Lion Foundation charitable trust which operates gaming venues for comment, however its website states that "... problem gambling is a serious issue that requires an integrated approach to prevention and treatment".
"Significant measures are in place to manage problem gambling. Staff at Lion Foundation venues are trained to detect and intervene when a player demonstrates problem gambling tendencies."
If you have a gambling problem you can call Gambling Helpline Services on (0800) 654 655, Te Kahui Hauora Trust, a Rotorua service provider, (07) 349 0156 or the Problem Gambling Foundation of New Zealand on (07) 343 9999.