Hāpai Te Hauora supports calls for more light to be shed on gaming environments

A recent television media interview for TVNZ's Seven Sharp was titled "Time to stop dimming the lights? Gaming rooms are designed to fuel addiction". University of Auckland Professor Peter Adams has specialist expertise in addiction, and he raised concerns about the potential of gaming environments in New Zealand to create and reinforce behaviour which leads to problem gambling. Dim lighting, lack of natural light and secluded areas for gaming were raised as structural factors which fuel gambling addiction.

Lance Norman CEO of Hāpai Te Hauora, supports Professor Adams' call to change gaming environments to reduce gambling-related harm. "There is a strong body of evidence about the role of gaming environments in reinforcing problem gambling behaviour. The Ministry of Health reports that our Māori whānau experience three to four times higher rates of problem gambling than the general New Zealand population, so Hāpai considers this a significant public health issue for our communities".

Layla Lyndon-Tonga General Manager of the National Gambling Harm Infrastructure Services at Hāpai Te Hauora agrees that changes to gaming environments should be an integral part of actions to reduce gambling harm. “We know from our experience in providing workforce development programmes to public health workers that this workforce needs to be supported with systemic and structural changes in the gaming sector to be most effective in reducing the harm caused by problem gambling”.

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