Online bingo threat to community fundraising
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Online bingo should be a no go.
Online bingo should be a no go.
That’s the response from the head of Auckland University’s Gambling and Addictions Research Centre to the Lotteries Commission’s plan to introduce an online version of the number match game.
Maria Bellringer says bingo and housie are widely used by Maori as a fundraising tool, largely because of the social nature of the games.
“It’s gambling but it’s for social good, the community benefit, and once you commercialise that and take it away from that community benefit the money doesn’t go into the community and people will transfer – online it’s so easy, you can do it on your phone, anywhere,” she says.
Dr Bellringer says modern gambling is designed to be highly addictive, and Maori and pacific are wom to three times more likely to be addicted.
