In New Zealand, poker machine spending has been a major concern for responsible gambling advocates for years. Now, new statistics show that pokie spending has been on the decline over the course of the past year, which is a positive step forward for helping to reduce problem gambling rates in the country.
The Department of Internal Affairs recently released figures that show pokie spending at New Zealand’s 1330 pubs and clubs has dropped by seven percent between the last quarter and the previous one. In the first quarter of 2014, spending had declined to $192.8 million from $206.7 during the last quarter of 2013. In the year to March 2014, pokie spending dropped by 2% from $828.7 million to $811.6 million.
The spending decline is partially attributed to there being fewer license holders across New Zealand. From March 2013 to March 2014, the number of poker machine license holders fell from 353 to 336 while the number of venues dropped from 1367 to 1330. This resulted in there being fewer games, as the number fell from 17 542 to 17 182 over the course of the last year.
Pokie spending is likely to be on the decline across the country since there is more awareness of problem gambling. The recent debate over SkyCity’s new poker machines shone a spotlight on the potential dangers of becoming addicted to spending money on gaming machines. As such, we are seeing players become more mindful of their spending.
Another reason is due to sinking lid policies that have been enacted across New Zealand. Plenty of city councils have passed laws to reduce the number of pokie venues and pokie machines over time. We are now seeing plenty of closures of gaming machine venues and, since sinking lid policies dictate that pokies cannot be transferred, the games are disappearing as well.
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