Rotorua splurges on pokies

Rotorua is at the centre of an axis of pokie induced poverty says the Problem Gambling Foundation.

CEO, John Stansfield says that the release of the first accurate and timely figures on pokie losses shows a quite different picture of gambling to the one the pokie trusts present.

"The biggest losses in the country are at Kawerau, followed by Thames/Coromandel and then Rotorua," he says.

"The pokie trusts have been trying to convince the Council not to impose any restrictions on them because the amount of pokie funding has been decreasing.

"In fact the reverse is true. We now know that the amount of money lost on pokies has increased by 5% nationwide and that Rotorua has the third highest spend per head of population in the country.

"It appears that every man, woman and child in the area spends $384.73 a year on the pokies.

"Children aren't allowed to gamble on pokies, at least 60% of adults have never touched a pokie machine and tourists don't waste their time in seedy pokie bars.

"That leaves very few people losing a lot of money."

Mr Stansfield says the pokies contribute hugely to the cycle of debt and despair that some Rotorua residents find themselves in.

"Rotorua came to national attention last month because of incidents involving children neglected while their parents gambled on the pokies.

"Crimes are committed to fund gambling debts and family violence resulting from stress created by problem gambling is all too common."

He says it is ironic that the Council itself benefited to the tune of over $900,000 from losses by its poorest residents.

"This is far more than any other council in the country," he says.

"The council should set an example of how to get out of this cycle by weaning itself of its pokie dependency.

"Surely the Council does not want to continue topping the charts for all the wrong reasons."

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