New Zealand is best known for rowing, sheep and scenic landscapes that look good for hobbits and elves to walk through on their journeys. Before that, it was known for Xena: Warrior Princess. Now you can say that the isolated country is also known for its interesting take on combating problem gambling.

Tomorrow is Gamble-Free Day in New Zealand. Before you get too excited, that doesn’t mean you can gamble for free. It means that for one day the country is encouraging people to avoid gambling, including both in person and in online casinos. The reason? They want to bring awareness to the Problem Gambling Foundation and encourage people to seek help. I certainly hope this is only a small part of the awareness-raising campaign, because reminding people once a year to seek help for their addiction doesn’t seem good enough. According to some sources, gambling tends to increase during a recession, with people trying to recoup lost money by betting. This of course, flies in the face of both logic, which states that when you’re hurting for cash you need to be more conservative with your finances, and statistics that show that the gambling industry has seen a decline in profits during the recession.

Despite that, gambling addiction is definitely a problem, regardless of the economic climate. And people with a gambling addiction might be more likely to try to make money at the betting tables during a recession. While it’s unlikely that any online casinos will shut down their business for a day, restaurants and bars that have gambling have agreed to not offer gambling services tomorrow. The restaurants will encourage people to not gamble during Gamble-Free Day and anyone with a Gamble-Free Day voucher will receive a discount. It is another example that, despite the perception of some, those that make money off of gambling are actually concerned about those who have a gambling problems. In fact, worldwide, casinos and other gambling-related companies are the top contributor to groups that help with problem gambling. So remember, New Zealand Gambling Review readers, tomorrow just say no. And if you have a problem with gambling, go seek help. That last part goes for everyone, not just New Zealanders.

Tags: Gamble-Free Day, Gambling addiction, New Zealand, online casinos, online gambling, problem gambling

This entry was posted on Monday, August 31st, 2009 at 8:33 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.