Problem Gambling: A Money Recovery Plan

🛟 Recognising harm and making your money safe

Gambling harm is not only about how much you bet. It is about the effect on your money, your mood and the people around you. You do not have to tick every box below to deserve help.

Signs that gambling is costing too much

• Chasing losses: Betting more to try to win back what you have already lost.
• Borrowing to gamble: Using a credit card, an overdraft, buy now pay later or a payday loan to fund gambling.
• Money meant for bills: Rent, power, groceries or the kids' costs going on gambling instead.
• Hiding it: Deleting transactions from your mind, lying about where money went, or keeping a secret account.
• Relief and dread: Feeling calm only while gambling, then anxious about the balance afterwards.
• Selling or pawning: Turning belongings into cash to keep going.

Immediate money-safety steps

These steps put friction between you and gambling. They work best stacked together, because each one closes a different door. None of them require you to have stopped completely first.

1. Turn on a bank gambling block

Several New Zealand banks, including Westpac and Kiwibank, offer a free opt-in gambling block on your debit and credit cards. Once switched on, the block stops your card being used for online transactions with gambling businesses. At Westpac the block stays on for a minimum of three months before you can ask to remove it, which builds in a helpful cooling-off period. Ask your own bank what block it offers. A block does not cover cash spent in person at a venue, so pair it with self-exclusion below.

2. Remove saved cards and log-ins

Delete saved card details from betting apps, casino sites, your phone wallet and your browser. Turn off one-click payments. Every extra step you have to take to gamble is a moment where you can stop.

3. Self-exclude from venues (including multi-venue)

Under the Gambling Act 2003 you can ask a pub, club or casino to exclude you from its gambling area, and the venue manager must promptly issue a self-exclusion order for a period of up to two years. You do not need to see a counsellor first. A multi-venue exclusion (MVE) lets you exclude yourself from many venues at once through a local coordinator, so you do not have to visit each one. Call the Gambling Helpline on 0800 654 655 or a local service to arrange it.

4. Self-exclude online

On the TAB you can take a short break or set a long-term self-exclusion (6 months, 1 year or indefinite) through the responsible gambling settings in your account. Lotto NZ lets you set limits or exclude yourself through MyLotto. For overseas online casino sites, the strongest tool you have is your bank block, because those sites are outside New Zealand rules.

5. Let a trusted person help

Ask a partner, family member or friend to hold a spending card, to be a second signature on a savings account, or simply to be someone you check in with. Handing over day to day control for a while is a strength, not a weakness, and it removes the pressure of relying on willpower alone.

🔧 Getting help and rebuilding your money

Once your money is safer, the next stage is rebuilding. This is where free services do their best work, because they take the pressure off you to solve everything alone.

Free confidential help, explained

• Gambling Helpline (0800 654 655, text 8006): Free phone and text support, 7 days. Counsellors can talk through what is happening, arrange self-exclusion, and connect you to a local face to face service. There are also specialist Maori, Pasifika, youth and debt lines listed in Section 1.
• Face to face gambling services: Free counselling funded by Health New Zealand, available around the country. Find one at safergambling.org.nz. Family and whanau affected by someone else's gambling can use these services too.
• MoneyTalks (0800 345 123, text 4029): Free, confidential financial mentoring run by FinCap and funded by the Ministry of Social Development. A mentor can help you build a budget, talk to creditors, and set up a realistic repayment plan.

Build a realistic budget

A budget after gambling harm is not about punishment. It is about giving every dollar a job so there is nothing loose to gamble and nothing hidden to worry about. A simple weekly plan works well because most bills and pay cycles are weekly or fortnightly.

1. Start with take-home pay for the week or fortnight, not your gross salary.
2. List the essentials first: rent or mortgage, power, phone and internet, groceries, transport, insurance.
3. Add minimum debt repayments so nothing falls further behind.
4. Set a small automatic savings amount into a separate account you cannot easily reach.
5. Redirect what you used to gamble into debt and savings, where it does real work.

Automating payments on payday means the money is allocated before it can be spent. A financial mentor can set this up with you for free.

Dealing with gambling debt without more borrowing

Gambling debt is usually made up of high interest credit cards, overdrafts, buy now pay later and sometimes loans from friends or family. The trap is borrowing again to cover a repayment. Instead:

• Get a full picture: list every debt, the balance, the interest rate and the minimum payment.
• Ask for a hardship arrangement: New Zealand lenders can pause or reduce payments, freeze interest or agree a plan when you are in genuine difficulty. A financial mentor can make these calls with you.
• Attack the most expensive debt first while paying the minimum on the rest, or clear the smallest balance first for a motivating quick win.
• Do not consolidate into more borrowing unless a mentor has checked it genuinely lowers the cost, and the card block is on so a cleared card does not fill up again.

Supporting a family member

If someone you love is gambling, you can get free help for yourself, not just for them. You cannot control their choices, but you can protect the household's money and look after your own wellbeing.

• Call for support: the Gambling Helpline (0800 654 655) and free local services are open to family and whanau.
• Protect shared money: consider separating accounts, removing their access to joint savings, and checking whether any debts are in your name.
• Set kind, firm boundaries: you can offer support without paying gambling debts or lending cash. Paying losses can unintentionally keep the cycle going.
• Get your own budget checked: MoneyTalks (0800 345 123) can help you make the household finances safe while the person gets help.

🔢 Worked Examples

These four New Zealand examples show the money side of recovery in action. The people are made up, but the numbers and steps are real and hand-checked.

Related guides and tools

• Financial Stress Guide - practical steps when money worry feels overwhelming
• Emotional Spending Guide - spotting and slowing spending driven by feelings
• Financial Hardship Help Guide - support and options when you cannot cover the basics
• Debt Payoff Strategies Guide - clearing debt without more borrowing
• Budget Calculator - build a realistic weekly or monthly plan

Sources: verified July 2026 against the Gambling Helpline (gamblinghelpline.co.nz) for the helpline numbers and text option; Safer Gambling Aotearoa (safergambling.org.nz) and Health New Zealand, Te Whatu Ora (tewhatuora.govt.nz) for free services and the one in five lifetime harm figure; Department of Internal Affairs (dia.govt.nz) and the Gambling Act 2003 for self-exclusion and multi-venue exclusion rules; Westpac NZ and RNZ for bank gambling blocks; MoneyTalks and FinCap (moneytalks.co.nz, fincap.org.nz) for free financial mentoring. This is general information, not personalised financial, legal or health advice.