Strategy to Prevent and Minimise Gambling Harm 2025/26 to 2027/28

Overview

Harm from gambling is a significant public health issue for our communities, and for individuals, families and whānau.

Every three years the Ministry of Health is required by the Gambling Act 2003 to set out a proposed strategy to prevent and minimise the harm caused by gambling.

As part of this, public consultation on a draft strategy is required, which will provide an opportunity to have your say about the draft Strategy (what we will achieve), the draft Service Plan (how we will achieve it) and the draft funding levels and levy rates (how it will be funded).

Feedback from this consultation will help to inform a revised strategy proposals document which is submitted to the Gambling Commission for consideration. The Gambling Commission will then undertake its own consultation and make recommendations to Government. The new Strategy and Levy will take effect from 1 July 2025.

The consultation document on the Ministry of Health website provides the full proposed Strategy for public consultation and includes:

• the strategic plan, including the strategic framework that sets out the goal, outcomes, priorities and actions for the Strategy
• the service plan for the three years from 2025/26 to 2027/28, including the amount of funding required for the Ministry of Health -  Manatū Hauora and Health New Zealand to deliver the gambling harm prevention and minimisation activities described in the Strategy
• the problem gambling levy rates and weighting options per sector for the next three years.

There are also supporting documents, including the full needs assessment, a Plain English summary, translations and an explainer video on the Ministry of Health website.

The Ministry is running a series of consultation meetings. To register for a meeting please fill in this registration form.

Additional questions about the future Strategy development process under the Gambling Act 2003  

The Ministry of Health is considering whether to progress two minor amendments to section 318 of the Gambling Act 2003 (the Act), designed to reduce duplication and administrative costs of developing the strategy in the future:  

• changing the frequency of revising the strategy costs and levy funding from every three to every five years  

• simplifying the strategy consultation requirements from two phases to one phase.  

This work is separate to consideration of the draft strategy for 2025/26 to 2027/28, but we are using the same consultation process to seek your feedback on these proposals. These questions are included in this survey.