Gambling: a social hazard.

• Author: Dyall, Lorna

Abstract

Gambling needs to be reframed as a social hazard rather than a harmless leisure pursuit. Maori are at particular risk of the adverse effects of gambling, and the government's obligations under the Treaty of Waitangi should be the basis for gaming legislation that recognises gambling as a social hazard. Such legislation should be modelled on the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996, which is aimed at the protection of people and communities through appropriate management of chemical and biological hazards.

Hutia te rito o te harakeke, Kei hea te komako e ko, Ki mai koe ki au He aha te mea nui o tenei ao, Maku e ki atu He tangata, he tangata, he tangata.

If we pull the heart of the flax out where will the bellbird go? But if I was to ask what is the most important thing of all I would say, it is people, it is people, and it is people.

INTRODUCTION

New Zealand has recently been experiencing its third review of gambling or gaming since 1995 (Department of Internal Affairs 2001a)? New legislation was proposed under the previous Labour-Alliance Government to promote responsible gambling. The Bill was reviewed by the Labour-Progressive Coalition Government, and passed into legislation as the Gambling Act 2003. This legislation, when implemented, will do little to protect Maori and other New Zealanders from the hazards associated with gambling. Rather, it legitimates the role and rationale of gambling in New Zealand, and will define the place of different gambling operators and the various forms of gambling each can operate. Perhaps it should have been called the Gambling Protection Act, as it protects current gambling operators, supports the status quo arrangements and promotes harm minimisation as a strategy for public protection from gambling.

This paper aims to reframe gambling from being seen as a harmless recreational leisure activity to being considered a social hazard in New Zealand. It also considers why there are legislative protections in place to protect New Zealanders and Maori from the introduction of new biological and chemical hazards, but no such protections to safeguard health and wellbeing from introduced social activities such as gambling, which are known to be hazardous to people's health.

The whakatauki (proverb) that appears at the beginning of this paper sets the scene in that although Maori consider the protection of the environment as important, the most valuable resource a society can have is healthy people. This paper is written from a Maori perspective and will discuss gambling and problem gambling and its impact on Maori, the importance of reframing gambling as a social hazard, the importance of the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996, which provides a framework for responsible gambling in New Zealand, and the need to consider all new and current gambling products in a similar manner as new biological or chemical hazards in the environment, as it is unknown how they will interact and react in New Zealand's unique social environment.

GAMBLING IN NEW ZEALAND: CULTURAL BAGGAGE

Gambling or gaming--defined as "games of chance that are informal or regulated through legislation such as playing cards, track betting, casino games, poker machines, raffles, lotteries, sport betting and investment on the stock exchange" (Arnold 1978:8)--is increasingly being recognised as a politically sensitive issue in New Zealand and overseas (Shaffer and Korn 2002).

Grant (1994) has proposed that gambling should be seen as "cultural baggage" in New Zealand, as the new settlers have introduced it. He notes that non-Maori settlers have used gambling to provide entertainment, create individual and collective wealth, develop social and cultural services and redistribute assets and resources to different individuals and groups on the pretence of "luck" (Grant 1994). Maori have then followed non-Maori and integrated gambling into Maori cultural activities and being Maori. This is reinforced through gambling advertising and Maori involvement in new gambling developments such as the opening of casinos (Bayly 1999).

Maori are a unique indigenous population who, prior to contact with non-Maori, had no history or traditional concepts relating to gambling. Maori also had no history of brewing alcohol or consumption of tobacco (Reid and Pouwhare 1992, Grant 1994, Hutt 1999). Today Maori often consume all three products in different settings, especially in pubs and social clubs, creating co-addiction problems (Dyall and Morrison 2002). As a result of the normalisation of gambling, it is now an integral part of the social, economic and cultural infrastructure of Maori and New Zealand communities. For example, Creative New Zealand, the Film Commission and Sport and Recreation New Zealand, which give grants to arts, film and sports activities respectively, are all significantly dependent on funding from the Lottery Grants Board,3 which receives its funding from the New Zealand Lotteries Commission gambling products.

Maori are also dependent on these statutory bodies and the Lottery Grants Board for funding for the development and conservation of marae. This funding now means that many Maori organisations and groups are dependent on gambling for their cultural survival unless alternative policy decisions are made to support Maori aspirations for economic security and independence.

The ethical issues of Maori receiving money from the proceeds of gambling have not been considered in any great depth by Maori community groups, although the effects of non-casino gaming machines on Maori whanau and communities are increasingly being recognised. The previous government recognised that problem gambling is now a health issue for Maori (Department of Internal Affairs 2002).

GAMBLING AS A SOCIAL HAZARD: A PUBLIC HEALTH REFRAME NEEDED

It is now time for New Zealanders to reframe gambling and consider it as a "social hazard", even though is it generally considered a normal recreational activity that creates minimum harm in New Zealand. Any introduced organism or new substance or social activity has the potential to be a hazard, as its effects are unlikely to be known in a new environment, even though it may be considered "safe" in other communities or situations.

New Zealand has had wide experience of the introduction of hazards, such as plants and animals considered "safe" in one place yet reacting quite differently in New Zealand, with the outcome that they have become noxious weeds or pests. The term "social hazard" in its application to gambling is used figuratively, for although it is an activity, not a threat to the physical environment, it can create harm within families and communities and can cause significant health and social problems (National Research Council 1999, Productivity Commission 1999).

Further, if legitimated by society and promoted as a normal recreational activity, it can change individuals' and groups' values to lead them to depend upon "luck", such as winning a lottery or jackpot, to determine their future, rather than taking control and shaping their future by hard work and personal achievements. People's health and wellbeing is related to the degree of control they have over their own lives (Health Promotion Forum of New Zealand 2000).

The socialisation effects of Lotto, the government-owned weekly lottery, have been investigated by Howland (1994). He suggests that Lotto advertisements promoting a weekly purchase of a lottery ticket in supermarkets, malls and in bookshops have contributed and reinforced the ideal of the "good life", where everyone who plays has the chance to be a winner. They have encouraged a distinction between those who participate, "good Kiwis", and non-players, who are considered "radical" and "bad Kiwis".

Participation is one of the core values that Lotto promotes, and it has been used to ensure that Lotto is an essential part of New Zealanders' household expenditure. It is the most frequent form of gambling (Bale 1992, Abbott and Volberg 2000). Lotto is now part of the Kiwi psyche, where dreams are achieved. Advertising and easy access to purchasing a ticket, such as when paying for groceries at a supermarket, promotes the normalisation of gambling in New Zealand (Howland 1994).

Countries are increasingly re-assessing their policies that govern gambling, as local community advocacy groups, gambling providers, elected governments, indigenous populations and gamblers become aware of its effects on expenditure, and of gambling-related harm such as increased crime, increased health problems, the breakup of families, co-addiction problems and increased debt, especially from gaming machines, casinos and the Internet (National Research Council 1999, Korn and Shaffer 2000, Sullivan et al. 2000).

Alongside these concerns, there are also some indigenous groups--in Canada and America, and in New Zealand, such as Ngati Whakaue and Tainui--who would like to become more actively involved in gambling through the ownership of casinos and other forms of gambling such as gaming machines, as specific strategies to achieve their own social and economic development aspirations (Anders 1996, Cozzetto and Larocque 1996). There also is a growing reluctance for Maori or tribal organisations such as Tainui to publicly highlight their involvement in casinos or the ownership of gaming machine licences, as they are aware of the adverse criticism they will receive from both Maori and non-Maori.

There are increasingly differing views on the value of gambling in New Zealand, with over half (56%) of the individuals and organisations that made submissions to the most recent gaming review suggesting that gambling should not be part of our society (National Research Bureau 2001).

Nevertheless, gambling in New Zealand is now a significant part of the business of national and local organisations, private and charitable organisations, and the wealth of individuals. This is visible...