{"id":4434,"date":"2022-04-19T11:12:18","date_gmt":"2022-04-19T15:12:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bestcasinos.co.nz\/?p=4434"},"modified":"2022-04-19T13:12:29","modified_gmt":"2022-04-19T17:12:29","slug":"waikato-district-loses-8-million-to-pokies-in-a-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bestcasinos.co.nz\/waikato-district-loses-8-million-to-pokies-in-a-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Waikato district loses $8 million to pokies in a year"},"content":{"rendered":"
Between 2020 and 2021, players in South Waikato collectively lost over $8 million to pokies, a situation that has created severely negative impacts on the area\u2019s families.<\/p>\n
These figures came to light when community members provided feedback to the South Waikato District Council regarding its Gambling Class 4 and TAB Venue Policy<\/a>. In total, $8,057,439 across 160 class 4pokie machines was lost in the 2020-21 financial year.<\/p>\n A South Waikato woman, who asked to remain anonymous, described the impact of gambling on wh\u0101nau as devastating.<\/p>\n \u201cGrowing up, both of my parents were gamblers and we knew that. They would always disappear to the pub to play the pokies. You don\u2019t realise how impactful it is until you\u2019re older and realise how abandoned you felt. It was really hard and lonely as a child when you have younger siblings who are wondering where their parents are or who is going to feed them,\u201d <\/em>she said.<\/p>\n