Gambling

The time is ripe for public action on gambling, writes John Farnsworth.

The viability of provincial pubs with poker machines and resulting grants for their communities is under threat as the Government considers reforming the sector, industry representatives say.

Sports and community groups in Dunedin fear being left out of pocket if a push to cap the number of poker machines in the city is successful.

Two poker machine trusts together distributing more than $60 million a year to community groups - including in Dunedin - have urged the Dunedin City Council not to punish the industry for problem gambling.

Emotional pleas and cold, hard numbers dominated the first day of a public hearing that could change the rules for gambling in Dunedin.

At the height of her gambling addiction, Karen Hansen dreamed of being locked in a prison cell.

Pokie machines prey on an ancient part of the brain to turn ordinary people into losers, writes Catherine Masters, of the NZ Herald.

The notion that the future of sport in this country might rely on picking the pockets of people with gambling addictions sticks in the craw.

A head for numbers and figures initially gave Tony a "sense of control" when he started playing the pokies, until his monthly bank statements highlighted the "horrendous" amounts he was losing on a regular basis.

The amount of money being lost gambling on Dunedin poker machines has decreased during the past four years, with Mosgiel, the central city and the suburbs of City Rise home to the venues where players are most likely to lose their cash.

"The crack cocaine of gambling", was how Waitaki District Councillor Hugh Perkins has described poker machines, but his attempt to reduce numbers in the Waitaki district failed yesterday.