The history of gambling in New Zealand

Abstract

This special issue on gambling in Aotearoa-New Zealand was assembled from papers presented at a recent conference on gambling held in Auckland in September 2003. This third international conference on gambling, Gambling through a Public Health Lens, was jointly hosted by the Problem Gambling Foundation and the University of Auckland's Centre for Gambling Studies. The focus of the conference was intended to assist services and government agencies to prepare for the Ministry of Health's takeover of responsibility for the provision of services for problem gamblers, as it moves to recognise gambling as a public health issue. The timing of the conference was fortuitous. The three days of the conference coincided with the final reading of the Gambling Act, the first piece of legislation that provides a comprehensive regulatory framework for gambling and the culmination of a seven-year review process. The three hundred people attending the conference were continually aware that their discussions were being echoed with concurrent discussions in the halls of power. While the conference was attended by a number of esteemed presenters (such as David Korn from Toronto and Jeff Marrota from Oregon 1 ) the papers chosen for this issue concentrate specifically on the current scene in Aotearoa-New Zealand, particularly as it applies to gambling within specific cultural contexts. The intent is to enable readers in other countries to compare what is happening in Aotearoa-New Zealand with the evolution of gambling within their own cultural contexts. The rapid proliferation of gambling has had contrasting impacts on indigenous populations, migrant groups, and local communities. The papers here provide detail on these impacts and examine some potential responses. In order to set the scene, this editorial will provide information on the context in Aotearoa-New Zealand to enable the reader to better appreciate the issues discussed in the papers.