At the end of the policy hearing, Dunedin city councillors were left to grapple with an issue affecting not only the lives of individuals devastated by problem gambling but also the many community organisations which benefit from money from gaming trusts.
A council subcommittee of Crs Michael Guest, Fliss Butcher, Colin Weatherall and John Bezett yesterday sat to hear the 815 submissions.
A proposal for a "sinking lid" policy for poker machine and other gambling venues in Dunedin was by far the most popular among those making submissions.
Such a policy would mean no more approvals for new venues.
The policy was last reviewed in 2007, when the council stopped short of the sinking-lid policy, instead introducing a policy that prohibited new venues in residential or recreational areas unless they were for organised sporting venues.
Staff have recommended staying with the status quo.
Campbell Wilson, of the Southern Trust, said during the past six years, class four gambling, or gambling machines, had declined in all respects: machine numbers, venue numbers and total income.
Because of that, he said, there was no rationale for limiting numbers further.
The trust's submission said statistical evidence suggested the incidence of problem gambling was declining, rather than increasing.
Pub Charity chief executive Martin Cheer raised the ire of Cr Butcher during his submission, after he said some of the statistics he had heard were "misleading".
He said while 40% of funds went to sporting organisations, the health and education sectors were major recipients.
In inflation-adjusted terms, spending on all gambling machines had fallen 24% since 2004.
There were no statistics to show a sinking-lid policy would make any difference.
Arguments for the sinking-lid policy included personal testimony by people who had lost everything because of problem gambling, or lost family members through suicide because of the problem.
Statistics from the Problem Gambling Foundation of New Zealand said gaming machines were the major cause of gambling harm.
"There is a positive link with gambling prevalence and an increased number of pokie machines."
Of calls to gambling help lines, 78.6% said gambling machines were their primary mode of gambling.
Foundation national public practice leader Tony Milne said the amount of money being lost on poker machines was increasing, and was close to $2 billion a year.
The sinking-lid policy would not fix the problem, but some of the harm would be minimised.
In Dunedin, 70% of gambling machines were in poorer areas.
Oasis Centre counsellor Chris Watkins used the example of a South Dunedin woman with a gambling problem, "Jane", who had to walk past eight venues and 140 machines when she walked from her St Kilda home to buy food at Pak'n Save.
The machines used "intermittent reinforcement", with wins among the losses, to hook the gambler.
Mike Tonks, of Catholic Social Services, said intermittent reinforcement was like a child with an abusive parent who very occasionally would "show a little love".
The child would "hang in there" hoping things would get better, in the same way some women in violent domestic situations did.
The council needed to "remove the problem; take it away".
