New Zealand gambling-harm service spending rises 24% to NZ$25.4m for FY26

New Zealand's Ministry of Health recorded NZ$25.4m (US$14.4m) in problem-gambling service expenses for the year ended 30 June 2026, compared with NZ$20.5m for FY25. 

The increase of 23.8% appears in its annual report published on 20 October. The figures record public-health programme spending.

Problem-gambling levy revenue rose from NZ$21.9m to NZ$26.0m over the same period, an increase of 19.1%. The gap between levy collections and expenses produced a NZ$609,000 surplus for FY26, down from NZ$1.3m in the previous year. 

Inland Revenue collects the levy, while Health New Zealand delivers most of the funded services.

The report covers the first year of the Strategy to Prevent and Minimise Gambling Harm 2025/26 to 2027/28. The Government allocated NZ$81.4m to the three-year programme when it was established in June 2025. Funding is recovered through levies on Lotto NZ, TAB NZ, casinos and non-casino electronic gaming machines.

The strategy supports health promotion, early intervention, treatment, data collection and evaluation. During FY26, this included investment in clinical gambling-harm services and campaigns aimed at Pacific and Asian communities. 

Health New Zealand also worked on the Safer Gambling Aotearoa website and Gambling Harm Awareness Week.

The Ministry initiated an impact evaluation of the strategy and developed a research programme covering gambling harm and emerging issues. It also worked with the Department of Internal Affairs on harm-minimisation measures in the Online Casino Gambling Act 2026. 

Those policy and research activities sit alongside the treatment and prevention services funded through the levy.

The new spending figure provides an actual annual measure against the strategy's multi-year allocation. The annual report does not attribute the increase to any one gambling sector. The four sectors contribute through the levy framework, and the service expenditure is reported as a combined national total.

A September report on New Zealand gaming-machine results put non-casino machine profit for the June quarter at NZ$271.5m. That sector is one of the four funding the gambling-harm strategy through levies.