New Zealand has recently seen a surge of gambling related crimes before the courts.

There is the mother in Whangarei who stole $8900 after using pokie machines, the Real Estate agent in Wellington who stole $66,000 to fuel his gambling problem, and the ongoing saga of the ex rugby players caught up in fraud related to a pokie charity.

David Coom, Communications Director at the Problem Gambling Foundation says all these stories hide the real misery that gambling is creating and the huge cost to society of this multi–billion dollar industry.

“The only winner in gambling is the $16 billion annual turnover gambling industry. The cost for the rest of us is paying the costs of crime, paying the economic costs associated with relationship and family break-ups and mental health issues caused by gambling,” he says.

Research carried out by SHORE, Massey University, estimated that up to 10,000 New Zealanders within the last year are engaged in illegal activities because of their gambling.

Price Waterhouse Coopers Director of Forensic Services painted a poignant profile of who would be involved in fraud and it was “female, working in payroll or accounts payable positions, more often than not pokie machines…..”.

David Coom says it is well known that the gambling industry are spending millions of dollars on advertising and most areas of gambling have shown an increase in returns.

“People who are facing huge financial pressures at the moment are falling prey to the deliberately designed ‘instant return’ pokie machines, the lure of the life-changing lottery products, and the slick campaigns of the casinos,” he says.

“In this financial recession we would expect more gambling related crimes as people are more desperate and the industry continues to aggressively pedal its products.”

ENDS

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