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PATRICIA RILEY – FULL INTERVIEW CLICK HERE
One person may win tonight’s $38 million lotto jackpot but thousands of whānau will spend money they don’t have to try to get it.
That’s the warning from gambling harm reduction campaigner Trish Riley from Raukura Hauora o Tainui.
She says apart from the prevalence of pokey machines in our poorer suburbs, there is also a pressure to spend coming from the lotto outlet in nearly every dairy that normalises gambling.
People justify their spending on the basis they are trying to help their whānau with a big win, especially as Christmas draws near.
"What you will see that does along with those sorts of pressures is you will see family violence, you’ll see families go without food, you’ll see children going without presents. Initially our whānau are out there trying to win that big one but they are actually chasing a loss disguised as a win, because you think you are winning but you are just losing," she says.
Trish Riley says gambling used to be done in a community setting for fundraising, but it has become a solo vice.
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