source: pixabay.comAfter overall gambling spending fell because of lockdown, there was a big spend in the final quarter of the year. In fact, new government figures show that Kiwis are spending more than ever before.
In the period October-December 2020, New Zealanders spent $252m on non-casino pokie machines. This was the highest amount since the Department of Internal Affairs started keeping records in 2007.
Lotto also saw a record-breaking quarter. Lotto had its biggest-ever turnover at $631 million, and a 13 percent year-on-year revenue increase as the absence of other methods of gambling due to global domestic and international lockdowns hit home.
Pokies were down 18 percent to $802m, casinos were down 22 percent to $504m, and the TAB down 10 percent to $315m as hospitality venues struggled with the lack of tourists.
Problem Gambling Foundation marketing director Andree Froude said:
“We would like to know where the money has come from, given that 50 percent of pokie venues are in our poorest communities,”
“That money has come from people who really can’t afford to be losing it, and on top of a year that’s been really difficult, so it’s really concerning and it would be really good to know why.”
However, Peter Dengate Thrush, chair of the pokie industry body the Gaming Machine Association, said the recent Auckland lockdown would wipe out the final quarter gains. he said the figures would: “bring out the tired old arguments around the need to reduce the number of gaming machines,”
As 42 percent of pokie profits must be returned as grants to local communities, Dengate Thrush said the news was a:
“much-needed boost for New Zealand communities in the form of increased funding to health, emergency, education, environmental, heritage, sports and arts organisations all over the country”.
