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PROBLEM GAMBLING
Gambling-related harm is an emerging public health issue in New Zealand, with significant health, social and economic implications. In the last decades, New Zealand has seen an increase in the consumption of gambling products and expenditure (player losses) paralleled by increases in the number of people seeking help for their own or someone else’s gambling.
In September 2003, Parliament passed the Gambling Act, which includes provisions to control, regulate and monitor gambling. The Act lists preventing and minimising gambling harm as one of its purposes. Others include controlling the growth of gambling and facilitating responsible gambling.
The Act is underpinned by a public health focus and in 2004 the Ministry of Health launched its six-year strategy Preventing and Minimising Gambling Harm: Strategic Plan 2004-2010. The goal of the strategic plan is to “assist government, communities and families/whanau to work together to prevent gambling harm and to reduce gambling-related inequalities, especially for those groups most at risk”.
The strategic plan outlines an approach to addressing the continuum of gambling harm, including primary prevention and population approaches through to more selected treatment services for people affected by problem gambling. The strategy also addresses research and workforce development needs.
Problem gambling and gambling harm
It is estimated that about 32,800 New Zealand adults may have a serious gambling problem, and a further 17,500 may be at risk. Some groups have higher prevalence rates than others. Maori and Pacific peoples have high rates of problem gambling, which is reflected in help-seeking behaviours as well.
Maori and Pacific peoples are over-represented in those who access treatment services, while evidence suggests a growing problem is faced by some sectors of the Asian population. Evidence also points to social impacts from problem gambling being greatest in lower socio-economic areas.
The Gambling Act defines harm as that caused or exacerbated by a person’s gambling, including personal, social or economic harm suffered by the person, their family/whanau, community, workplace or by society at large. It is estimated that at least five other people are directly affected by one person’s problem gambling.
The majority of clients accessing telephone helpline and face-to-face counselling services report non-casino gaming machines (pokies) as their primary mode of gambling.
The role of HSC in addressing gambling harm
The HSC's main contribution to preventing and minimising gambling-related harm over the next three years is to develop and implement a national social marketing approach that strengthens society's understanding and awareness of, and response to, gambling-related harms. Beyond this time the programme will focus on implementing targeted strategies to change behaviours that place people and communities at risk of gambling harm. Note - funding beyond 2006/07 is not yet confirmed.
The goal of the social marketing programme is:
"To increase the quality of life of New Zealanders by strengthening society's response to gambling and preventing and reducing gambling harm."
Social marketing programme: campaign launch
Outcome: That communities see that gambling affects us all.
Objectives: Raise community awareness of the harms associated with gambling, including problem gambling, and support for preventative measures.
The focus of the campaign over the next 2-3 years will be:
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Creating an environment for social change efforts. |
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Raising awareness of risks/issues and actions to prevent gambling harm.
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Promoting discussion and debate within communities about gambling and its impacts.
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Developing and raising the campaign profile with key stakeholders.
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Establishing campaign benchmarks for monitoring and evaluation.
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Securing and developing a market brand, with a set of attributes, messages and themes.
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More information about the HSC's problem gambling campaign is available at www.ourproblem.org.nz
This approach was developed from formative research undertaken by HSC in 2005/06 that included the development of a public health approach to addressing gambling harm, a literature review, a stocktake of resources available to prevent and minimise gambling harm, and a workforce development survey. HSC has developed indicators of anticipated changes in behaviour and has commissioned a survey to benchmark these indicators.
To view the literature review, stocktake of resources and workforce survey in printable PDF format you will need the FREE Acrobat Reader installed on your computer. Download Acrobat Reader FREE here.
Download the full Literature Review here. [PDF, 1.8MB, 146 pages]
As the full document is quite large you might like to download the Executive Summary [PDF, 152KB, 7 pages] or in two parts - Part 1 [PDF, 974KB, 73 pages] and Part 2 [PDF, 991KB, 73 pages].
Download the Stocktake of Resources here. [PDF, 496KB, 21 pages]
Download the Workforce Survey here. [PDF, 1MB, 74 pages]
More information
Information on the role of the Ministry of Health in addressing gambling harm, and copies of Ministry publications, can be found at: www.moh.govt.nz/problemgambling
The Department of Internal Affairs administers the Gambling Act and takes a lead role in developing regulations to prevent and minimise gambling harm. The Department has a comprehensive range of information and resources on its website: www.dia.govt.nz
The Problem Gambling Foundation of New Zealand also has a comprehensive range of information on its website, including resources, publications and links to national and international websites. Visit www.pgfnz.co.nz
Telephone helpline services
The Gambling Helpline is available toll-free on 0800 654 655
The Helpline also runs specialist lines:
Maori Gambling Helpline – 0800 654 656
Pasifika Gambling Helpline – 0800 654 657
Youth Gambling Helpline – 0800 654 659
Gambling Debt Helpline – 0800 654 658
The Gambling Helpline also has a variety of resources on their website, www.gamblingproblem.co.nz
The Problem Gambling Foundation also runs an Asian Hotline, available toll-free on
0800 862 342
References:
Abbott M, Volberg R. 2000. Taking the Pulse on Gambling and Problem Gambling in New Zealand: A report on phase one of the 1999 national prevalence survey. Wellington: Department of Internal Affairs.
Ministry of Health. 2005. Problem Gambling Intervention Services in New Zealand: 2004 national statistics. Wellington: Ministry of Health.
Ministry of Health. 2005. Preventing and Minimising Gambling Harm: Strategic plan 2004-2010. Wellington: Ministry of Health.
Ministry of Health. 2006. Problem Gambling in New Zealand: Analysis of the 2002/2003 New Zealand Health Survey. Wellington: Ministry of Health
Last updated: 16/4/07.
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