Assessment of Impacts of Gambling in NZ

1
Assessment of Impacts of Gambling in NZ

• Conducted by Shore/ Whariki
• Study funded by the Ministry of Health

2
Purpose of Study

• Provide quantitative measures of the impact of
  gambling from a representative sample of NZers 15
  to 80 years
• Information to be collected from individuals
  which could be aggregated
• Survey collected quantitative measures assess
  positive and negative impacts
• Sample size 7010 ( 4650 general respondents)
  over sample Maori, Pacific, Chinese, Korean sample

3
Study

• Sample size 7010 respondents aged 15 to 80 years
  living in private residential dwellings
• Data collection May 2007- November 2007
• Telephone survey, randomly selected numbers (
  listed and in listed ) 10 calls per number
• Select person from one household
• Maori sample selected from Maori electoral
  roll
• Maori target sample 500, Pacific 8000, Asian
  620, general population 4450
• Aim to be able to conduct ethnic specific
  analysis

4
Survey Instrument Development

• Review of literature of the impact of gambling
  on people, communities, ethnic specific, drew
  upon research all ready undertaken
• Qualitative interviews gambling industry,
  qualitative interviews of people from different
  ethnic groups
• Development and piloting of a quantitative data
  collection instrument assess social and economic
  impacts
• Pre Pilot instument

5
Sample of Study Completed Interviews

• 4650 general sample
• 533 Maori
• Pacific 858
• Asian 969

6
Key Findings

• 62 of general participants reported ( excluding
  raffles) had gambled in the past 12 months
• More than 50 of the population had engaged with
  Lottery products, 10 track betting, 4 pokies in
  clubs, 8 bars/clubs and 8 in the casino
• Time spent gambling over 3 hours per week, heavy
  3.2 of the sample heavy gamblers

7
Profile Heavy Gamblers

• More likely to be males, aged between 18 to 35
  years, single, either sick or unemployed, ad
  secondary qualifications and the majority Maori
  or Pacific
• Those who had higher levels of gambling
  reported significantly poorer health, worse
  mental health, poor feelings about self, low
  satisfaction with life and more likelihood of
  unemployment
• Loss of income sensitive measure in effecting
  quality of life

8
Gambling Modes and Venues

• Ethnic groups had different impacts in relation
  to modes of gambling
• Time spent playing pokies in bars had negative
  impacts on all ethnic groups in relation to many
  domains of life self reported physical health,
  mental well being, relationships with
  family/friends, feelings about self, quality and
  satisfaction of life, financial situation, care
  given to children

9
Self Perception of Changes on Domains of Life

• People higher participation in gambling reported
  they would be better off in terms of physical
  health, mental wellbeing, relationships with
  family/friends, financial situation, housing
  situation, material standard of living, study
  performance, care of children if they had not
  been gambling in last year

10
Gambling and Illegal Activities

• People with higher participation more likely to
  be involved in illegal activities compared to
  people who never gambled or reported lower
  levels of participation.

11
Impacts of Peoples Gambling On Domains of Life

• Approximately 12.4 people had at east one
  person in their lives whom they considered to
  have been fairly heavy gamblers in the last 12
  months.
• Close family members ( family members) most
  negatively impacted by their family members
  gambling
• Life domains affected included physical health,
  mental wellbeing, housing situation, material
  standard of living, relationships, care giving
  of children, quality and satisfaction of life
• Adverse gambling impacts more within whanau
  than outside as friends or work colleagues

12
Maori Sample

• 60 of the Maori sample had engaged wioth Lottery
  products, 13 betting at TAB, Pokies 6 in clubs,
  15 in bars/clubs and 10 in the casino
• 3 of the Maori sample played at casino tables,
  5 played at housie in community centres 7
  played poker/card games at home or friends for
  money

13
Impact on Domains of Life

• Significant associations between gambling
  participation and poorer quality of life in life,
  most sensitive time spent playing pokie machines
• Maori who spent longer time playing pokies
  reported poorer mental wellbeing, low self, poor
  housing, rated themselves as poor
  parent/care-giver
• Long time playing pokies report poor feelings
  about self and quality of life
• Playing pokies or tables in a casino were
  associated with similar rating pokie machines
• Playing housie associated with better self-
  rated material standard of living
• Length of time spent on betting at the track or
  poker playing at home had no significant impact
  on individuals domains of life

14
Overall Finding

• Maori showed predominantly negative associations
  between gambling and peoples self ratings of
  their domains of life
• Findings for Europeans and Chinese/Korean
  peoples were mixed
• Europeans associations were predominately
  positive
• Pacific people were more similar to Maori

15
Conclusion

• This study confirms and supports previous
  research that gambling and in particular pokie
  machines erodes the health, wealth and wellbeing
  of Maori whanau
• Gambling policy is focused on the general
  population but those who are most adversely
  affected are those who are marginalised in
  society
• Low sample of Maori supports previous study even
  though should have been higher
• Pokie machines damages Maori health and wealth,
  supports claim to the Waitangi Tribunal to
  consider implications of pokie machines