Wairarapa gamblers lose $4.2m to pokies

Wairarapa gamblers are losing $4.2m playing the pokies each year.

People living in the Wellington region, including Wairarapa, are less likely to gamble than the average New Zealander, it's been revealed.

But a problem-gambling advocate says Wairarapa residents still lose $4.2 million on the pokies every year.

Nearly 60 per cent of people living in the Wellington region - or 224,000 - say they have gambled in the last three months, making them 2 per cent less likely to gamble than the average New Zealander.

According to new data collected by Roy Morgan, locals were 31 per cent less likely to have played the pokies in the last three months than the national average, 4 per cent less likely to buy a lotto ticket and 3 per cent less likely to buy play Instant Kiwi.

We weren't so fond of Keno either, at 41 per cent less likely to play than the rest of the country. However, those in the region were 5 per cent more likely to place a bet at the TAB and 10 per cent more likely to gamble online.

The rates are an interesting insight as a High Court battle continues into how to mitigate the harm caused by problem gambling.

The Problem Gambling Foundation sought a judicial review after losing 70 per cent of its funding to the Salvation Army in March. The foundation was left only with a specialist contract for Asian problem gamblers from the Ministry of Health tender process, which considered 32 bids. The foundation said it would have to close its 10 offices and 11 outreach clinics by next February.

The public health adviser for problem gambling at Care NZ in Masterton, Aiden Broughton, said most people seeking help in Wairarapa struggled with gaming-machine addiction.

"Statistics provided by the Department of Internal Affairs show that the Wairarapa community of just 40,000 people loses $18,000 a day on pokies. $6.6 million has been lost over the last 12 months, with $2.4 million given back in the form of community grants.

"This means that a total of $4.2 million was lost from the pockets of the people of Wairarapa over the previous year."

During a three-day hearing in the High Court in Auckland last week, the foundation's lawyer, Mai Chen, described it as "the best in the business", having pioneered many initiatives in its 25 years.

Stripping the foundation of the majority of contracts would result in a step back for the gambling-recovery sector, Ms Chen said.

The evaluation panel - appointed by the Ministry of Health - included a direct family member of an individual involved with one of the contenders, which resulted in a conflict of interest, she said.

For the Attorney-General, lawyer Matthew Andrews told the hearing the family connection was a "potential" conflict of interest rather than an actual one, because the family member was contracted to the competing organisation's board of trustees, rather than on the board itself.

Ms Chen also said the panel's chairman made errors in arithmetic when averaging raw scores from the providers.

This included replacing some scores with zeroes - artificially lowering the scores for that provider.

Mr Andrews said those mistakes had been addressed.

"It was a human process. While there were mistakes and gaps along the way, they were corrected."

- APNZ