Poker News
New Zealand Online Gambling
A survey by the Racing Board has found that New Zealanders spend some NZ$40 million on overseas websites weekly - almost double that being gambled in the state lottery, the New Zealand Herald newspaper reports.
The Board's survey findings revealed that 5.7 percent of the population, or 177 000 New Zealanders, gamble on offshore websites, overseas lotteries and sports betting, wagering about NZ$2.1 billion annually, a figure that translates to $40 million every week. In addition, only $5.5 million is being spent per week on overseas racing and sports betting, with the remainder going to other gambling forms.
David Coom, spokesperson for the Problem Gambling Foundation views the survey as confirmation that overseas online gambling was indeed "a really fast-growing problem".
"It's totally unregulated and there's no ability to do any host responsibility around it," Coom said. "One of the big issues with problem gambling is that it flourishes and thrives in secrecy, and of course online you can just sit at home and access it all you like. "We are starting to see cases come through where parents are bringing in their teenagers who are spending up to 60 hours a week online. We are just about to embark on some research with youth to see what actually is going on."
In contrast to these findings were results of extensive user surveys previously done on Internet gambling, by internationally renowned organisations like Harvard Medical School’s Addictions Division. Led by Dr. Howard Saffer, the research team concluded that online gambling is substantially less addictive when compared to live gambling.
According to the New Zealand Herald, if the Racing Board's findings are accurate, it indicates that about a sixth of New Zealand's total gambling expenditure is flowing abroad. Official numbers reveal that New Zealanders wagered NZ$12.9 billion within the country last year- of which over NZ$10 billion came from poker machines in pubs and clubs, NZ$1.5 billion on racing, NZ$778 million on Lotto and NZ$477 million from casinos.