The Government of New Zealand is being urged to prevent Lotto from offering their gambling products to children to buy.
For the time being, the only age limit on the games offered by the Lotto is an R-18 restriction on Instant Kiwi. As revealed by research held by the director of the Gambling and Addictions Research Centre at Auckland University of Technology – Maria Bellringer – underage individuals are currently able to purchase Lotto tickets, as well as Keno and Bullseye.
Ms Bellringer studied the gambling habits of almost 900 children in the Pacific Islands, aged 9, who live in New Zealand. The research found that 7% of them had already purchased a Lotto ticket. She criticised the practice, saying that it simply normalises gambling behaviour as being something totally fine that anyone can do for fun. According to Ms Bellringer, who is also part of an expert panel on the matters of harm minimisation of Lotto services, playing the Lotto was not a problem for many people but underage individuals needed more serious guidance and context on issues related to gambling.
Chris Lyman, the CEO of New Zealand’s Lotto, shared that the company would be glad to introduce age restrictions but its legal advisors informed it that such a step could not be undertaken without a legislative overhaul. Furthermore, the company’s boss explained that children were able to purchase Lotto tickets because the law allowed it but he rejected the idea that a large number of underage individuals did so, considering there were no children queuing at Lotto’s stores.
As Mr Lyman explained, the R-18 restriction that applies to Instant Kiwi was included in the country’s Gambling Act but Lotto was unable to enforce age restrictions on other products.
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Associate professor Maria Bellringer was not the only one who shared she was uncomfortable with the fact that children are buying Lotto tickets. Jan Tinetti, the country’s Minister of Internal Affairs, shared that the practice bothered her, too, so she would now consider bringing some changes to the law. She pledged that the matter would be put on the table as soon as possible because it was just not right to see children being able to engage in some kind of gambling activity.
On the other hand, Andree Froude, the spokesperson of the Problem Gambling Foundation, reported she was once alarmed to find out there were no age restrictions imposed on Lotto ticket purchases.
Previous research held by Maria Bellringer, in 2015, studied the gambling behaviour of a total of 874 children from the Pacific Islands, aged 9 and living in New Zealand. At the time, the research found that 146, or 17%, of the children polled, had received an Instant Kiwi scratchcard as a gift.
This, however, is illegal because the product is currently subject to age restrictions making it impossible for people under 18 years of age to take part in this form of gambling. Instant Kiwi scratchcards are considered gambling products of medium risk because it is a form of continuous gambling that allows players to immediately reinvest any potential winnings into new scratchcard purchases. Currently, it is the only Lotto game that is subject to an age restriction. The previous study also found that 61 of the interviewed children (7%) had bought a Lotto ticket.
The 2015 research cited a previous study regarding New Zealand adults which found that local people first gambled before turning 13 years of age and gambling at such a young age was a strong risk factor for lifetime gambling addiction.
- Author
Daniel Williams
