Timaru boasts the highest annual per-person gambling spend in the Canterbury region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
New Zealand.- The Department of Internal Affairs has reported that\u00a0player losses on South Canterbury slot machines reached $12m in 2021<\/strong>. More than $10m, or $28,000 a day, was spent on pokie machines in the district of Timaru alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Mackenzie District\u00a0<\/strong>came second with an average payout of $272.34 per adult resident and loses of AU$1,055,595 on 37 slot machines across four venues \u2013 about $2,900 a day. This is an increase of $270,000 from last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Figures for the first quarter of 2022 are expected to reach roughly the same amount as in 2021. In March,\u00a0the Department of Internal Affairs<\/a>\u00a0revealed that\u00a0New Zealanders spent NZ$2.63bn (US$1.81bn)<\/strong>\u00a0on the four main types of gambling in the 2020\/21 financial year.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to\u00a0the Problem Gambling Foundation<\/strong>, every pokie machine in the district makes more than double Timaru\u2019s median income of $30,300, with annual takings of $61,147.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Andree Froude, a spokesman for the\u00a0Problem Gambling Foundation<\/a>, told Stuff: “We\u2019d really like to see councils do more, so the numbers of pokies can go down and the spend can go down. It can be difficult for councils because they probably feel like their hands are tied, sinking lids might seem like the best policy available to them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He has previously said Class 4 pokies are the most harmful form of gambling with nearly 50 per cent of people seeking help for gambling citing pokies in pubs, clubs and TABs as their main form of gambling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last June,\u00a0Mackenzie District Council\u00a0<\/a>voted to update its current law to\u00a0limit the number of slot machines, or \u201cpokies\u201d\u00a0<\/strong>through the creation of a \u201csinking lid.\u201d The process means that\u00a0when a gambling venue closes it cannot be replaced by another<\/strong>, so the number of slots in the district will gradually be reduced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n