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Our Communities, Our Families, Our ProblemThere’s something disturbing in the heart of our community. To address some of the issues the Health Sponsorship Council (HSC) has developed the ‘Kiwi Lives’ mass media campaign. The campaign highlights the damaging effect of problem gambling in homes and communities. It is the first phase of a comprehensive social marketing programme to address problem gambling harm in New Zealand. The Kiwi Lives television commercial (download copies here: English 7.8MB mpg Maori 7.8MB mpg) aims to get New Zealanders thinking and talking about problem gambling and actions they can take to minimise and prevent the harm it causes. Supporting the television campaign is advertising in Asian print media (1: Chinese 580KB pdf) (2: Korean 580KB pdf) and radio advertising: Pacific Language Ads What is problem gambling? Problem gambling is when people, and often their families or communities, experience harm or distress as a result of gambling. Problem gambling can affect our health, our relationships, our finances, our employment, our children and the community we live in. Many families and communities around New Zealand are affected by problem gambling. It can lead to, or is associated with, relationship breakdown, crime, depression, other health problems, neglect of children, debt and loss of assets and violence in the home.
What is being done about problem gambling? Gambling-related harm is an emerging public health issue in New Zealand, with significant health, social and economic implications. New Zealand started to see huge changes in its gambling environment as early as the mid-1990s and, inevitably, problem gambling started to emerge as a significant health and social issue. In 2003, Government introduced the Gambling Act. The Act has several purposes, including controlling the growth of gambling in New Zealand, ensuring gambling is fair and lawful, and preventing and minimising gambling harm. Around New Zealand, Government, health services, community organisations and gambling operators and venues are working to address problem gambling and its impacts. Want to know more? If you are concerned about your own or someone else’s gambling it can be a huge relief to have a chat with someone. If you would like to talk to someone, phone 0800 654 655. The Gambling Helpline is open every day and calls are free. There are things you can do to ensure you can provide a safe home environment – such as talking to your teenagers about the risks of gambling and how to make responsible choices, setting a fixed amount to spend gambling, or leaving your ATM and credit cards at home when you are gambling. There are also things you can do to have a say on gambling in your community and to make sure that casinos and bars and clubs with pokie machines in your area follow the rules. The Department of Internal Affairs has more information at www.dia.govt.nz. A series of pamphlets are available on problem gambling, which can be downloaded here –
For more information on the social marketing programme you can email info@hsc.org.nz or visit the Health Sponsorship Council website. For more information on the Government’s strategy to prevent and minimise gambling harm, visit the Ministry of Health’s problem gambling web page.
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