New Zealanders’ Participation in Gambling

HPA's Health and Lifestyles Survey 2012 (HLS) is a nationally representative in-home survey monitoring health behaviours and attitudes of New Zealand residents aged 15 years and over. The HLS collects information relating to the programme areas HPA works in, including minimising harm from gambling.

The gambling section of the questionnaire was designed to compare with the 2006/07 Gaming and Betting Activities Survey, a benchmark survey carried out prior to the Health Sponsorship Council’s development of a national health promotion programme aiming to reduce gambling harm. The results were also comparable with the 2008 and 2010 HLS. Some of the characteristics of particular interest when looking at gambling participation include frequency of participation in continuous and non-continuous forms of gambling and individual risk of gambling problems, as defined by an international problem gambling index.