This week, Powerball has jackpotted to $18 million and about 60% more Lotto tickets than usual are expected to be sold before the draw on Saturday.
Last week, Internal Affairs Minister Rick Barker announced law changes that would enable the online sale of such tickets.
In future, we can confidently expect 160% more sales for such huge "pots'', and quite probably a considerable overall boost in weekly Lotto revenues. But to whose cost?
Ostensibly, the further liberalisation of big-ticket gambling has been facilitated to meet "consumer demand'' and because, as Mr Barker said in his statement announcing the initiative, it would represent "a real opportunity to improve the safety features around the sale of Lotto tickets''.
I beg to differ. The minister's press release accompanying the announcement is a breathtakingly audacious piece of spin-mongering and deserves to be treated in the manner in which it was evidently conceived - that is to say, with a degree of contempt.
We all like to have a bit of a flutter from time to time, whether an occasional punt on the gee-gees, a raffle or two in the school fair, or, indeed, that Lotto ticket we've gone out of our way to pick up, or purchased on a whim on our way out of the supermarket.
Nobody would advocate a ban on gambling but the evidence seems to be that certain sectors of society are prone to a series of addictions deleterious not only to their own and their families' health, but also that of society in general.
It may not be politically correct to point this out, but gambling, alcohol abuse, drug and tobacco use, and poor diet seem increasingly to cohere around those people who can least afford such "vices''.
The level of poverty, poor health, crime, drug-use, child abuse, domestic violence, credit-card or hire-purchase debt in parts of our society is a scandal.
Most social agencies know that where you find one, you find others; and that the clients of one agency, are quite likely to be those of another.
There is also solid evidence that gambling negatively affects low income families most, and its fallout is higher in Maori and Pacific Island families than others.
So what is a Government that prides itself on looking to the welfare of the poorer and less privileged members of society doing, making it easier for at least a proportion of them to make matters worse for themselves?
The new regulations are designed to allow ease of access to what is for some people an addiction and an affliction.
That Lotto is lent the imprimatur of respectability by its television draw, and invariably presented as a happy middle-class "opportunity'', rather than an unhelpful temptation for those close to the breadline, only compounds the calumny.
For these people, the fact that Lotto is only a keystroke away is akin to bringing the candy store into a kitchen full of kids with rotten teeth.
As for the notion of "safety'' as promoted in Mr Barker's announcement . . . Among the claims made are that "NZ Lotteries will monitor players who consistently spend the maximum and will contact them to offer support and problem gambling helpline information''.
This is like a vampire offering its victim advice on how to maintain a healthy blood supply.
The Lotteries Commission does a great deal of good, sponsoring and funding many creative and positive social and community ventures. It is also the case that revenue from Lotto has been falling in recent years, despite ever increasing add-ons, and ballooning jackpots.
If it is felt that there is a need to stimulate this voluntary "tax'' to enhance the commission's good work, then the minister should be more open about it and say so.
But it seems we are determined to be an equal opportunities society - delivering opportunities good and bad without distinguishing - and to be technologically advanced in so doing.
Today, Associate Health Minister Damien O'Connor launches three "hard hitting'' television ads showing the pernicious effects of alcohol abuse.
They "highlight the harmful consequences of binge drinking and show graphic examples of what can happen when individuals make poor choices as a result of excess alcohol consumption''.
It is a pity Mr Barker is not singing from a similar song-sheet with respect to binge gambling, rather than, as seems to be the case, peddling Lotto for profit.
- Simon Cunliffe is assistant editor at the Otago Daily Times.
