Official gambling expenditure figures don’t tell the full story

Gambling expenditure figures released yesterday are misleading, according to Professor Max Abbott - Director of AUT University’s Gambling and Addictions Research Centre.

Professor Abbott’s comments come in response to the Department of Internal Affairs announcement that gambling expenditure last year totalled $2,091 million, a $19 million increase on the previous year. He highlights that this fails to account for inflation, population increases and the gambling expenditure of growing numbers of tourists and visitors, and needs to be considered in relation to other information about gambling in New Zealand lest serious issues be overlooked.

“While in straight dollar terms expenditure last year was the highest on record, in real inflation adjusted terms expenditure dropped 20% during the past 10 years and this trend is likely to continue,” says Professor Abbott.

He adds that New Zealand’s population increased greatly in the past decade, meaning many more people are contributing to the gambling spend and average expenditure per adult has dropped far more than 20%. “The fact is that official gambling expenditure, or consumer losses to put it another way, has reduced markedly during the past decade.”

Professor Abbott says expenditure trends are in line with the findings of the National Gambling Study (NGS), which were recently released by the Ministry of Health. The latest report found a drop in gambling participation (with 80% of adults reporting participation in any form of gambling, down from a previous high point of 90%), and a substantial fall in weekly or more frequent participation in continuous forms of gambling - including use of electronic gaming machines, casino table games and track betting (down from 18% in 1991, to 10% in 1999 and 6% in the latest survey). The NGS also found the number of adults who take part in multiple gambling activities had almost halved since the 1990s.

Professor Abbott cautions that while people are generally gambling less and spending less overall, problem gambling rates have not fallen over the past decade and levels of gambling-related harm remain high.

He also stresses that official expenditure figures do not show which sectors of the community spend the most on gambling. “We know from the National Gambling Study and similar surveys that some social groups have relatively larger proportions of people with high levels of participation and high rates of problem gambling. These groups include people who live in the most deprived neighbourhoods, Māori, Pacific Islanders, younger people, people with low-level educational qualifications and those who are unemployed.”

“Electronic gaming machines and TABs are heavily concentrated in the most deprived neighbourhoods. High exposure to these more toxic gambling forms, combined with socioeconomic inequality and other vulnerabilities, are the major drivers of harm,” says Professor Abbott.

ENDS

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