The South Taranaki Club is to join 80 other venues in New Zealand which are to switch off their poker machines for an hour during the Gambling Harm Awareness Week.
The bar and restaurant establishment is to take part in The Pause the Pokies initiative, risking a loss of quite some money, in an attempt to raise local residents’ awareness about gambling-related harm and problem gambling.
Next week, over 80 venues in New Zealand are to turn off their electronic gaming machines, also known as poker machines, or pokies, for at least an hour. As revealed by the foundation which created The Pause the Pokies initiative – the Problem Gambling Foundation – there was only one establishment out of 35 such venues in Taranaki which pledged to take part.
The Hāwera-based South Taranaki Club learned about the initiative aimed at raising New Zealanders’ problem gambling awareness and volunteered to participate on September 5th, between 1:00 and 2:00 PM. The manager of the bar and restaurant establishment, Raewyn Mitchell, explained that the time when the venue plans to switch the pokies off next week could be busy for gambling because an NZ$10 roast is available. Mr. Mitchell further noted that the establishment could lose quite some money.
Pause the Pokies Initiative Rolled Out for the First Time
This is the first time when The Pause the Pokies initiative has been rolled out across the country. The initiative calls for the local businesses which offer poker machines to their customers, to turn pokies off for no less than an hour in the week from September 3rd to 8th.
The Communications Director of the Problem Gambling Foundation Andree Froude has revealed that the latest National Gambling Study in New Zealand found that gambling participation rates had decreased, unlike problem gambling rates which unfortunately had not followed the same trend.
Ms. Frounde further explained that the main money flow into poker machines is mostly coming from the poorest residents. As she revealed, there are five times as many pokies in the most disadvantaged areas of the country, with gambling-related harm still having an impact on most vulnerable communities.
According to Ms. Founde, The Pause the Pokies initiative could be useful, as gamblers would be given the chance to stay away from the machines for at least an hour, which could lead to them seeking help from an organisation aimed at helping problem gamblers deal with their compulsive gambling habits.
Poker machines have been pointed as some of the major forms of gambling which lead to gambling addictions among New Zealanders. Only a couple of days ago it became clear that people living in the Northland Region of the country are spending millions on pokies every year, and what is worse, most of them usually go through a financial crisis due to rising debts which pile up as a result of their compulsive gambling.
- Author
Daniel Williams
