“The introduction of the Gambling Act three years ago has had little impact
on decreasing pokie machines in some regions in New Zealand and it’s
obviously not working well, says a gambling lobby group. “Gambling Watch
coordinator David Macpherson said all New Zealand regions had shown a drop
in machines in the last three years with a nationwide decrease of 10.1 per
cent, but some regions were well below the average. “Southland and Waikato
both had a reduction of less than 4 per cent. “.However, in other regions
community concern about the harmful effects of pokie machines was having an
impact with numbers decreasing about 15 per cent, he said. ..”