Media mentions

Find links to selected media articles from the past 5 years featuring members and projects from the Gambling and Addictions Research Centre.

• The Spinoff: How the gambling industry is using influencers to appeal to a new generation  (20 December 2024).
  Summary: From paid partnerships and podcasts to ‘party holes’, the TAB and its youth-focused subsidiary Betcha are making a concerted effort to attract young people to gambling.
• Scoop Independent News: New AUT research shows online gaming a predictor of gambling harm (14 November 2024)
  Summary: New research from AUT’s Pacific Islands Families (PIF) study shows regular online gaming as a teenager is a significant predictor of gambling harm at aged 22.
• RNZ Nine to Noon: Concerns online casino regulations don’t protect young and addicted (5 August 2024).
  Summary: Critics are concerned the government's first steps into regulating online casinos won't do enough to protect addicts and young people from savvy offshore operators.
• New Zealand Herald: The surprising things researchers just learned about gambling in New Zealand (6 May 2024).
  Summary: In a first-of-its-kind national study with global implications, researchers have untangled the complex links between problem gambling and lifestyle factors - with some surprising results.
• Stuff: He won $5800 gambling online, but sites wouldn't pay up (22 January 2024)
  Summary: A New Plymouth man thought he had won nearly $6,000 gambling online but when he went to withdraw his winnings, the site refused to pay up.
• NZ Herald: Online gambling by students at New Zealand secondary schools ‘concerning’ (20 November 2023)
  Summary: Online gambling by students at secondary schools across New Zealand is of high concern, support services say, leading to fears of said students developing gambling addictions later in life.
• RNZ: Gambling addicts' treatment at risk due to funding cut - Salvation Army (10 November 2023)
  Summary: Axing the Salvation Army's rehabilitation programme could cause recovering addicts to relapse.
• The Press: ‘Two properties and over 20 vehicles seized as part of investigation into ‘predatory’ company (2 August 2023)
  Summary: “Predatory” is how a gambling expert is describing a North Canterbury company being investigated for potential illegal gambling.
• Newshub Nation: ‘Like the wild west’: Advocates blast inaction on online gambling sites by Govt (22 April 2023)
  Summary: Online gambling is now a one-hundred billion-dollar global business that’s aggressively targeting Kiwis. Our laws haven’t been updated in decades and the Government has put its least-experienced Ministers on the problem.
• Nine to Noon: NZ Casinos operating online gambling sites from Malta (31 October 2022)
  Summary: New Zealand-based casinos are launching unregulated online gambling platforms out of Malta, which bypass local regulations. Kathryn speaks to Maria Bellringer, the director of AUT's Gambling and Addictions Research Centre.
• Stuff: Christchurch Casino to bypass NZ rules by launching online gambling platform in Malta (27 September 2022)
  Summary: Problem gambling agencies are criticising a plan by Christchurch Casino to launch an online gambling platform out of Malta, bypassing current New Zealand restrictions.
• Waateanews.com: Lotto is an accepted part of life but there are some disturbing concerns about this (23 September 2022)
  Summary: This discussion focused on how Māori and Pacific people can be disproportionately harmed by lottery products and other gambling activities.
• New Zealand Herald: Series of articles focusing on NZ Lotto (8 - 15 September 2022)
• Lotto warned $25 million online Bingo plan could create more harm for Pasifika and Māori (8 September 2022)
• Government under pressure to change law as 9-year-olds buy tickets (12 September 2022)
• “Gamblers’ fallacy”: How we were sold the fiction of ‘lucky’ Lotto stores (15 September 2022)
• Scoop: More support needed for families affected by problem gambling (21 July 2022)
  Summary: A Ministry of Health funded report on problem gambling shows that family support services tend to be peripheral, and more can be done to develop a whānau inclusive offering.
• Nine to Noon: Gambling researcher: ‘Get help now, don’t wait’ (7 July 2022)
  Summary: New research has found counselling can have long-lasting benefits as a treatment for gambling disorders. It's based on a randomised clinical trial with 227 people who were taking part in the Salvation Army's Oasis treatment programme.
• Newsroom: Equity the new focus in battle against problem gambling (11 July 2022)
  Summary: The Ministry of Health’s new strategy to put equity in the centre of their response to preventing the harms of problem gambling comes as research funded by the ministry is released which examines the effectiveness of different counselling treatments for problem gamblers
• Newshub: Kiwibank customers spending $30m every month playing online gambling sites (30 March 2022)
  Summary: That's just one bank's data.  It comes as Internal Affairs says a review to regulate online gambling is "ongoing", despite it being three years since the review was first announced.
• Newshub: Auckland’s SkyCity Casino trespassed 48 people in past three years for leaving children alone in cars, on the street while they gambled. (28 March 2022)
  Summary: A gambling and addiction expert believes the actual number of incidents of children being left unattended will be much higher, saying when you're hooked on the pokies, little else matters.
• Scoop: How much, how often, how many - Three new global gambling guidelines could reduce harm from post-lockdown gambling (23 September 2021)
  Summary: New global gambling guidelines have been developed to provide straightforward quantitative limits for people of legal gambling age who want to make more informed choices about their gambling.  The guidelines are the culmination of over five years’ work and collaboration with an international group of experts, including researchers at Auckland University of Technology (AUT).
• RNZ: Problem gamblers more likely to withdraw from community groups  (21 April 2021)
  Summary: The study looked at transitioning into and out of gambling behaviours and how this correlated with transitions in health, social and quality of life factors.
• Stuff: Women gamblers seek time away from stressful family life and domestic violence - study (19 April 2020)
  Summary: This research involved interviews with 165 New Zealanders to study the way gender roles contribute to gambling harm in women.
• Stuff: Pacific youth underage gambling with family and friends a ‘social’ activity - study (1 July 2019)
  Summary: About one-third of 17-year-old Pacific youth were current gamblers, most at a low level.  However, a significant minority had experienced harmful or risky gambling behaviour in their family.