North blows $21m on Lotto

Lottery ticket

Northland punters have spent more than $21 million on Lotto tickets in the past 12 months, with more than $7 million of it spent during the $33 million Powerball run over 16 weeks.

The Powerball jackpot rollover began on June 9 and ran for 16 weeks, until it was won on September 28.

Figures released to the Advocate from Lotto New Zealand show $7,333,256 was spent on Lotto tickets in Northland over the entire 16-week run, almost $1 million of it in the final week.

An average of over $427,000 a week was spent in the 15 weeks prior to the final week.

The region spent almost $21,650,000 on Lotto in the past 12 months, an average weekly spend of almost $420,000.

Nga Manga Puriri problem gambling counsellor Marino Murphy said Northland's tally was too high.

"People think it's acceptable, everyone buys it once a week averaging $20-$60 and thinks 'It's not too bad.' They just normalise it."

Every client Ms Murphy saw who had a gambling problem could not see what was wrong with Lotto.

"It's actually really surprising and shocking, their view on it. People honestly think it's okay."

Buying Lotto tickets was often a smaller part of much bigger addictions to pokies and placing bets, she said.

"They tend to buy Lotto or scratchies as a way of cutting back on the pokies but, when we add the money up, it's like 'Oh my gosh'."

Clients were also seriously misinformed about what happened to the money they spent, with many believing more than half of the proceeds went back into the community.

"It's nowhere near that figure. They are spending $7 million, you would not get a third of that back into the communities."

Nationally, Kiwis spent more than $211.5 million on Lotto tickets in the 16 weeks and close to $28 million in the last week.

In Rotorua, punters spent over $3 million on this Powerball run, while in Hawke's Bay the figure was over $7 million and $6.5 million in Western Bay of Plenty.

Lotto shop staff around the country had to cope with lines out the door as the jackpot hit new highs each week.

The windfall was eventually won by a west Auckland man, who became the largest ever individual Powerball winner when he claimed his prize.

Problem Gambling Foundation of New Zealand acting chief executive Graham Aitken said playing Lotto met all the criteria for gambling.

"They're still putting money at risk and in this case you can't really have any influence over the outcome."

Lotto was addictive, Mr Aitken said.