Lotto players from Wellington and Bay of Plenty each took out a $1.5 million share of Lotto First Division in last night's draw.

The pachinko industry in Japan wants casinos, driven by attendance that has sunk more than 60 per cent since the mid-90s and an uncertain legal status.

A blackjack epiphany cured my anti-gambling crusade, writes Matt Heath.

Suspense during yesterday morning's Fifa World Cup match between Brazil and Chile proved too much for a Kiwi punter who bet $2000 in extra time on the losing side.

Almost half the adult population buys a ticket once a month - but what game gives you the best chance of winning?

When Luis Suarez scored the second goal for Uruguay to win 2-1 over England at the Fifa World Cup yesterday, the biggest sigh of relief may have come from a New Zealand punter.

One lucky punter went home $11,000 richer by betting big on the right scoreline of the opening game of the Fifa World Cup.

A winning Lotto ticket worth more than $13 million proved to be the perfect cure for its owner's migraine.

Choose your own numbers or leave it to the machine? With a cool $25 million up for grabs this weekend Lotto players can be forgiven for pausing over each step.

The TAB is offering its own free kick for next month's soccer World Cup - and the winner will net $5 million.

A new commission structure for pubs with pokie machines is being condemned by anti-gambling lobbyists as "a giant leap backwards".

A New Zealander has reportedly been arrested in Thailand after police raided an illegal gambling den in the seedy tourist hotspot Pattaya.

The Problem Gambling Foundation will take the Ministry of Health to court to try to overturn a decision.

Little is known about high-roller Zhao Li, except that he is - or was - fabulously rich. So rich a Melbourne casino lent him $14m for a one-day gambling spree.

Maori and Pacific problem gambling services have won more money out of a tender which stopped all funding for the country's biggest provider, the Problem Gambling Foundation.

An Auckland man who says he won $125 on card tables at SkyCity is now before the courts accused of cheating.

Pacific broadcaster Fa'amatuainu Tino Pereira was the sole non-bureaucrat on a panel that evaluated bids in a controversial tender that axed most of the Problem Gambling Foundation's funding.

Two of the six panel members who made the shock decision to stop funding the Problem Gambling Foundation had conflicts of interest, a review has found.

A gambling industry leader was among the first people knocking on the Salvation Army's door this week after news broke that the army had displaced the country's main help agency for gambling addicts.

The Problem Gambling Foundation is seeking legal advice over a possible High Court challenge to a controversial Government decision to axe funding for most of its services for gambling addicts.

Editorial: Revenge may well be a dish best served cold. It can also be best served by a third party, with no obvious fingerprints and in a way that offers plausible deniability.

The Salvation Army says it was unaware it would be taking over as the lead agency for gambling addiction services after the Ministry of Health controversially cut funding to the Problem Gambling Foundation.

The plug has been pulled on government funds for the Problem Gambling Foundation, amid claims it's payback for opposing the SkyCity convention centre deal.

The mystery millionaire who won $26 million on Powerball three weeks ago has spent up large on cars and is planning to follow the All Blacks on tour.

A suspect in a record-breaking drug probe had a gambling turnover of $14m at SkyCity Casino despite declaring an income of just $4217 over the same time period.

The number of pokies in pubs and clubs across Auckland continued to fall last year as did the amount Aucklanders lost on the machines.

A former gambling trust administrator has been sentenced to home detention after misusing more than $1.7 million in proceeds that should have gone to the community.