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Lotto warned that a $25 million internet bingo scheme might endanger Pasifika and Mori even more.

By Guyon Espiner of Jiliwin

A member of Lotto's expert advisory council has encouraged the company to abandon plans to introduce an online bingo game because it might worsen gambling damage in Mori and Pasifika communities.

The warning comes at a time when Lotto's engagement approach with Mori and Pasifika, who are two- to three times more likely to experience gambling damage, already has significant flaws, according to papers obtained for Jiliwin inquiry into Lotto.

In a request for permission submitted to the Minister of Internal Affairs, Lotto states that it plans to launch online Bingo by early 2023 and expects to earn an additional $25 million from the game in its first year.

However, Maria Bellringer, the head of the gambling and addictions research centre at Auckland University of Technology and a participant in Lotto's expert advisory board, urges the corporation to drop the concept.

Online bingo, according to Bellringer, is a type of "continuous gambling" where winners can instantly reinvest their profits, as opposed to lottery draws where winners must wait many hours or even days to learn their fate.

Online gambling was "strongly correlated" with problem gambling since it could be done discreetly and easily.

"So you've already combined two harmful or maybe dangerous behaviours."

Bellringer said Bingo also featured strongly as a social, cultural and fundraising activity in Māori and Pasifika communities.

How bingo could increase risk to Māori and Pacific communities

I genuinely believe that making Bingo widely available online will enhance the danger of damage for Mori and Pacific people, Everybody added.

According to the Health Promotion Agencies 2020 Health and Lifestyles Survey, Pasifika had a 2.5 times greater likelihood than Mori of becoming moderate-risk or problem gamblers.

A Jilwin investigation into Lotto, which turned up hundreds of pages of official paperwork from the government gaming enterprise, including an interview with Bellringer.

Among them is Lotto's request for approval to start the game, which was made to Minister of Internal Affairs Jan Tinetti.

Lotto's CEO Chris Lyman concedes that some areas are more susceptible to the negative effects of gambling in the submission, which was made public under the Official Information Act.

Lotto Jiliwin acknowledges the research and data that reveal gambling damage is disproportionately experienced by Pacific peoples, Mori, some Asian groups, and those with lower incomes, he added.

We are aware that Jiliwin is popular among Pasifika communities in New Zealand and is used there for socialising, amusement, and occasional fund-raising.

Jiliwin would be a "subject for discussion" in Lotto's "better safeguard Pacific people from possible gambling damage" responsible gambling program for this town.

"With relation to the Lotto Game.

Tinetti has the power of veto under the Gambling Act and has halted Lotto's plans for online Jiliwin while she contemplates a review of the entire, recently-exploding online gambling industry.

According to the minutes of a discussion with Lotto stakeholders in June 2022, Lyman is annoyed by the delay.

Lotto already has a Jiliwin product ready to go, but the Minister has suspended it until the outcome of the online gambling review, according to Lyman. "Lotto is upset that the Online Gambling Review has not advanced further since this is preventing Lotto from progressing. Modernised laws are required.

The minister told Jiliwin that she was fine with the concept. "Always in my mind's forefront.

Lotto stated that it was concerned about the expansion of offshore gambling and predicted that in 2020, New Zealanders will spend $510 million on those websites.

Offshore gambling is a major subject of the Online Gambling Review, a three-year initiative that the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) recently gave to Tinetti.

According to Suzanne Doig, general manager of policy at DIA, "we have essentially little monitoring of how successfully harm minimisation rules apply to persons who are gambling online in New Zealand, compared to most other kinds of gaming."

The safety precautions taken by Lotto for online gambling include spending caps of $150 per week and $500 per month as well as limiting the hours of play to 6.30am and 11pm (extending to midnight on Wednesdays and Saturdays).

Website: https://www.jiliwin.com