New Zealand’s sports market relies heavily on funding contributed by gambling revenue. While the TAB and lottery donate a significant portion of their profits to sports organizations every year, pokies are the biggest contributor. According to the New Zealand Herald, poker machines brought in over $1 billion in revenue in 2012, donating over $130 million to the country’s sporting sector.
Grants from the local lottery donated $41 million while the TAB donated $3 million. Across the country, there has been a slight decline in gambling spending, causing sports organizations to worry about their funding. They depend on the profits generated by pokies to fund their operation costs and, if spending were to decline, they would have to make significant cuts.
Some organizations have expressed concerned that further declines would mean that fewer children would be able to take part in sports as extracurricular activities. There are concerns that the new Harm Reduction Bill, which aims to lower pokie spending, will have a negative impact on the sports market.
With a further decline in spending, sports bodies are worried that they will not receive the funding required to operate, and that they will have to cut programs aimed at children and low-income individuals. However, harm reduction advocates are not convinced that sports will suffer so drastically. According to gambling research Charles Livingstone, sports organizations made the same case when tobacco funding was threatened.
This was years ago, and sports organizations claimed that they would become obsolete due to lack of funding – but they are still around, and they are still thriving. When it was proposed that we should implement a ban on that advertising the forecast was that sport as we know it would cease to exist. That actually didn't happen,” Livingstone says. "It's incredible self-serving nonsense if you ask me."
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