Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi 
Harmful gambling has serious social and health consequences.
Gambling fuels poverty which has a significant impact on our families and children.
For some of our recent migrants who on arrival feel that gambling is a legal activity in New Zealand, it becomes a form of escapism from loneliness or lack of family support locally.
A number of our international students take up gambling as a form of recreation only to turn it in to a habit and addiction.
Augmenting income
Some of local communities gamble in hope that they can provide more financial support for their families. This may lead to a psychology of chasing losses, which leads to financial pressure on the very families that gamblers seek to provide extra financial support for.
Gambling involves Pokie machines in pubs and clubs, casino gambling, TAB (including sports betting) and even Lotto.
I had an opportunity recently of meeting the representatives of the Problem Gambling Foundation whose research point to Pokie machines as the major source of problem gambling.
Pokie machine are the cause of over 50% of gambling harm in New Zealand.
The amount of money spent by gamblers on Pokie machines located in our local pubs has risen significantly. This is more visible in low decile areas such as in my electorate of Manukau East where there is likely to be 1 machine for every 71 people in comparison to 1 machine for every 466 in decile 7-10 areas.
Official Statistics
The Department of Internal Affairs figures appear to support the theory that a significant amount of the gambling takes places in the Pokie machines located at our local pubs and clubs. These accounted for $878 million in the year to September 2017. Maori and Pacifica have a higher prevalence of problem gambling and the Indian community is an emerging group of concern.
Independent research shows that gambling is not and cannot be considered an economic activity; neither can it be classed as economic nor tourism growth for our county.
Breeding violence
Apart from the financial distress that gambling and chasing losses, it is also recognised as a cause of family and domestic violence and plays a role in criminality.
Violence is driven by guilt, fear and stress and has major impacts on our children and families.
Resources used toward tackling incidents of violence caused due to gambling can be better deployed in areas where these can make a better impact to lives of our citizens.
A Ministry of Health research shows that over a quarter of the support provided was because of family violence fuelled by gambling.
Apart from stretching our public health system, gambling also has a significant impact on the prison population.
Money Laundering
There is also the issue of money laundering which fits in to the larger context of tax evasion, criminal activity proceeds and financing terrorism and gambling.
Identifying the sources of money that fuel increased spending in pubs and clubs is needed. Failure to do so will undermine the social wellbeing and public health of our children who may end up living in communities supported by proceeds of crime.
Lending a helping hand
Overall gambling impacts our communities along with the health and prison system. It is in the interest of our communities to have access to help in areas that are most affected by gambling. We need to provide financial literacy along with customised support for gamblers and other affected by such habits.
It is in our interest to have communities who do not feel stigmatised in seeking help towards any form of gambling addiction.
We need to help them understand the harm that gambling causes amongst families, communities, health service providers, the justice and police teams.
Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi is Member of Parliament on National List and the Party’s Spokesperson for Internal Affairs and Associate Spokesperson for Justice.
