Gambling down but harm not

WELLINGTON: Fewer Kiwis are gambling but the rate of gamblingrelated harm remains the same, a study has found.

AUT’s latest National Gambling Study, released yesterday, said gambling participation in New Zealand fell from 80% to 75% between 2012 and 2015.

Over the same period, the level of people who were classed as moderaterisk or problem gamblers remained at 2% of adults.

This rate has now been stable for around 15 years, defying the theory that harm would fall alongside the overall rate of gambling.

AUT gambling and addictions research centre director Prof Max Abbott said the rate of problem gamblers was static because many people fell back into old habits.

‘‘High relapse is a large part of the reason why rates of harm have remained much the same in the face of declining participation,’’ he said.

That was concerning because the harm associated with gambling had been found to outweigh that of substance abuse, Prof Abbott said.

To be defined as a problem gambler, a person had to have behavioural problems, such as losing control of their spending, and for their gambling to have had negative consequences, such as affecting their relationships.

Electronic gaming machines (also known as pokies), online gaming, and games like Instant Kiwi were often responsible for people relapsing into addiction.

While Instant Kiwi and online gambling usually did not usually hook people into problem gambling in the first place, they were often responsible for people resuming their addiction.

The study tracked a national sample of 2770 people between 2012 and 2015.

Gambling participation peaked at around 90% in New Zealand in the mid1980s after the introduction of pokies. It has fallen steadily since the mid1990s.