Jack* remembers the moment he hit rock bottom.<\/p>\n
“I’d go to a casino after work and stay until I lost everything. Come home and play online during the night,” he said.<\/p>\n
“Then I lost my job, so I lost my income, and so I turned to crime and stealing off loved ones to support my habits. I knew then, I hated myself enough to ask for help.”<\/p>\n
Jack fell into the world of gambling<\/a> when he saw an ad online.<\/p>\n “I saw an ad for some free spins, went through that and won a little bit. Spent that, so I signed up and put some more money in, and I won big,” he said.<\/p>\n “I couldn’t get the money out as quickly as I’d put it in, because I had to verify my things and jump through hoops, so by the time I was eligible to withdraw it I had spent it, and more.”<\/p>\n Jack fell into gambling after seeing an ad for free spins.<\/p>\n Niek Doup \/ Unsplash<\/p>\n That quickly spiralled into an addiction.<\/p>\n “For me it went in line with my drug addiction. Smoking meth and gambling would keep me up for days,” Jack recounted.<\/p>\n “I knew it was a problem, but I kept doing it.”<\/p>\n It was hitting rock bottom and finally asking for help that broke the cycle, but what followed was a years-long recovery process – and plenty more ads and emails trying to lure him back.<\/p>\n “I used to get parcels delivered to my door saying, in hindsight, ‘you’re such a good loser’, but really saying ‘you’re such a good VIP member, here’s some nice Christmas gifts for you’,” he said.<\/p>\n “I still see plenty of ads online. I always see a plug here and there on Instagram, I still get dozens of emails each day.”<\/p>\n Advertising an overseas gambling site is illegal in New Zealand<\/a>, and the only local operators allowed to do so, for now, are the TAB, its sister app Betcha, and Lotto.<\/p>\n But on an open internet, Problem Gambling Foundation advocacy director Andree Froude said escaping the addiction was harder than ever.<\/p>\n “It’s carrying a casino around in your pocket, and is such a very different experience to what it used to be like when our Gambling Act came into being in 2003,” she said.<\/p>\n “Unfortunately our regulation hasn’t kept up with the changes that have happened.”<\/p>\n Problem Gambling Foundation advocacy director Andree Froude.<\/p>\n RNZ \/ Cole Eastham-Farrelly<\/p>\n She said current regulations hadn’t stopped overseas sites trying their luck with underhanded methods.<\/p>\n “We’ve seen a gambling operator tag a wall, physically tag a wall, near to where university students hang out,” she said.<\/p>\n “It’s almost like guerrilla marketing, where obviously they’re hoping people will Google it.”<\/p>\n Froude said it was time to ban all gambling ads, even for licensed operators.<\/p>\n “We’d like to see it banned. It just doesn’t seem right that a harmful commodity like gambling, they’re able to advertise in some situations without any restrictions, which is the case with the TAB and Lotto, really.”<\/p>\n “I think they should [ban gambling ads]. People who want to play it can find a way to play it. The adverts, the inducements, the excitement and allure is definitely going to drag people back in,” he said.<\/p>\n “For example, I’m on a health diet, I jump on the motorway and by the time I get from south Auckland to the city I’ve seen so many KFC ads I end up getting a KFC box. It’ll be like that for people on a journey of recovery, trying to be gamble free. By the time they get to town they’re playing – they don’t mean to, but it’s really triggering.”<\/p>\n TAB chief executive Nick Roberts.<\/p>\n Supplied \/ TAB<\/p>\n TAB chief executive Nick Roberts said it had a statutory obligation to minimise the risks of problem gambling.<\/p>\n “Illegal offshore gambling sites still reach New Zealanders. They operate outside New Zealand law and are under no such obligation,” he said.<\/p>\n “Those who want to bet on racing and sport are safer doing so with the regulated local operator. Advertising allows them to be channelled to a platform subject to New Zealand law, where harm minimisation tools are available, betting behaviour is monitored and there is the ability to intervene where indicators of potential harm emerge.”<\/p>\n Advertising veteran Mike Hutcheson said the internet had made it almost impossible to regulate ads.<\/p>\n “It’s really probably nigh on impossible because there are so many sources, so many gaps in the floorboards that let the mice in,” he said.<\/p>\n “I think, unless you put a blanket ban on all incoming gambling sources you’re kind of wasting your time. It’s whack-a-mole.”<\/p>\n In 2027, up to 15 online casinos would be given license<\/a> to operate and advertise in New Zealand.<\/p>\n They would be subject to strict rules, but Jack worried the new sites, ads and sponsorships would make it impossible for recovering gamblers to avoid their triggers.<\/p>\n *Name changed for privacy.<\/p>\n Where to get help:<\/p>\n Need to Talk? Free call or text 1737 any time to speak to a trained counsellor, for any reason.Safer Gambling Aotearoa (https:\/\/safergambling.org.nz\/): Call 0800 654 655 or text 8006.Problem Gambling Foundation (https:\/\/www.pgf.nz\/): Call 0800 664 262 or text 5819.Lifeline<\/a>: 0800 543 354 or text HELP to 4357.Suicide Crisis Helpline: 0508 828 865 \/ 0508 TAUTOKO. This is a service for people who may be thinking about suicide, or those who are concerned about family or friends.Depression Helpline<\/a>: 0800 111 757 or text 4202.Samaritans<\/a>: 0800 726 666.Youthline<\/a>: 0800 376 633 or text 234 or email talk@youthline.co.nz.What’s Up<\/a>: 0800 WHATSUP \/ 0800 9428 787. This is free counselling for 5 to 19-year-olds.Asian Family Services<\/a>: 0800 862 342 or text 832. Languages spoken: Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai, Japanese, Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi, and English.Rural Support Trust Helpline<\/a>: 0800 787 254.Healthline: 0800 611 116.Rainbow Youth<\/a>: (09) 376 4155.OUTLine<\/a>: 0800 688 5463.<\/p>\n If it is an emergency and you feel like you or someone else is at risk, call 111.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Warning: This story discusses gambling addiction. A former problem gambler says regulators need sharper teeth as ads for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":631864,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[134,554,555,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-631863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mental-health","tag-health","tag-mental-health","tag-mentalhealth","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=631863"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631863\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/631864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=631863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=631863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=631863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Gambling](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/4JMFJ0A_niek_doup_eMifpRdFOQU_unsplash_jpg.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Problem](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/4LNVZUM_20220729_Andree_Froude0001_jpg.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"TAB](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/4JGP31Y_Nick_Roberts_webp.jpeg\")
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