Gambling has a long list of implications. Young people are being drawn into online gambling at earlier ages. It can affect mental health, cause financial harm, and damage families. Photo / Christine Cornege
Gambling has a long list of implications. Young people are being drawn into online gambling at earlier ages. It can affect mental health, cause financial harm, and damage families. Photo / Christine Cornege
Opinion by Diana Clement
Diana Clement is a freelance journalist who has written a column for the Herald since 2004. Before that, she was personal finance editor for the Sunday Business (now The Business) newspaper in London.
Diana Clement is a freelance journalist who has written a column for the Herald since 2004. Before that, she was personal finance editor for the Sunday Business (now The Business) newspaper in London.
Gambling is a huge problem in New Zealand, and it plays havoc with personal finances, families andcommunities. Around 85% of Kiwis gamble regularly, which for most people means Lotto, and is unlikely to be problem gambling.
More problematic forms of gambling for a percentage of our population include pokies, sports betting, and online betting where individuals spend more than $50 a week or more than 1% of their income annually.
Brigitte Thornley, clinical director at the Problem Gambling Foundation [PGF], said $50 a week may not be much for someone who is well off. “Just because you’re well off doesn’t mean that you aren’t experiencing some sort of harm. You may be spending more time gambling than at home.”
It’s not at all unusual for a partner to assume their other half is having an affair rather than gambling. The gambler may be spending a lot of time away from home or being secretive with their phone. Some rack up major debt or spend the couple’s savings without their partner realising.
Gambling in the workplace, particularly on work devices, can be a problem as well. It may affect workplace productivity or breach company policy.
Thornley said there are some gambling products that are more harmful than others. “That’s because of the speed of play and the instant gratification effect. The pokies, and online gambling. The pokies [for example] are more harmful than Lotto. They’re more addictive, so they are more harmful.”
PGF has a real-time pokie stats counter on its website. By lunchtime on the day this article was written, it was $1.419 million and counting – just for that day. According to Government data, more than $1 billion was spent on pokies in New Zealand in 2022 alone.
It’s not just the pokies. Online gambling is a growing problem where people are typically doing it on their own in their homes at night.
“They may start thinking this is just time out. ‘I’ve had a big day, I just wanna play a bit of a game’. But they find themselves going back to them more and more.”
It has never been easier to gamble online. Photo / Getty Images
“They might even start on free games, and from there, migrate to paid games, because they’re doing so well in the free games. But unfortunately, the odds shift once you start paying for it.” Sometimes people are “gifted” money by the site to gamble, and the system lets them win and win, but they can’t actually get their winnings out, said Thornley. That can include crypto betting, which has exploded.
Gambling has a long list of implications. Young people are being drawn into online gambling at earlier ages. It can affect mental health, cause financial harm, and damage families.
It’s not unusual for partners, rather than the gambler, to seek assistance from gambling helplines and other services provided by the Problem Gambling Foundation and others such as Safer Gambling Aotearoa, Mapu Maia Pacific Counselling, and Asian Family Services.
A number of online tests exist, including one on the PGF website. It covers the time and money spent, gambling risk, impact, readiness for change, and other factors. People can connect with counselling at the end of the test if they so choose.
Some of the questions in the PGF test are eye-opening to people who don’t see gambling around them. “How often have you needed to gamble with larger amounts of money to get the same feeling of excitement?” “How much time do you spend on gambling-related activities?” One of the options for that one was more than eight hours in one day. “Where does limiting/stopping gambling fit on your list of priorities?”
Opportunities to gamble have exploded with the Internet. However, the availability of advice and counselling has also grown. That increase is leading younger people to tackle gambling addiction earlier, said Thornley.
It’s very difficult to quit gambling once addicted. Addicts are inundated with marketing from gambling companies and websites. There are, however, a number of gambling blockers online. These include Betblocker and Betfilter. Both Lotto and the TAB have options where you can block yourself, lower spending limits, take a break or opt out of promotional emails.
Where the gambler won’t engage, the first step for a partner or family member resistant to tackling gambling addiction is to start talking. Also to protect their finances. That might mean separating finances, although that doesn’t always safeguard against creditors.
