Turnover
Gambling Spending Facts: Turnover is the total money used for betting.
Organizations like the Lotteries Commission and the Racing Board (TAB) track these numbers in New Zealand. Turnover includes “churn,” which means the same money is counted many times when players re-bet their winnings. This happens a lot in games like slot machines or race betting.
For example, if someone starts with $20 and keeps betting until they lose it all, the machine might show a turnover of $120 or more because the money was reused many times.
Turnover does not show how much money players lose or profit the gambling company makes.
Expenditure and Gross Profit
These terms mean the same thing:
It is the turnover (total money bet) minus the money paid back to players as winnings.
For example, if a player bets $20 and loses it all, the operator’s profit is $20.
Financial Year-End
The financial year-end is when businesses close their accounts for the year.
Most gambling businesses in New Zealand use 30 June as their year-end.
But the New Zealand Racing Board (TAB) ends its financial year on 31 July.
New Zealand Racing Board (TAB)
The TAB introduced new betting options:
- Sports betting started in 1996.
- Fixed odds betting for races began in 1997.
Because of this, betting data from 1996 onward cannot be directly compared with earlier years.
New Zealand Lotteries Commission
In 1989, the Lotteries Commission changed its financial year-end from 31 March to 30 June.
This means the figures for that year cover 15 months instead of the usual 12 months.
Gaming Machines
Since 2008, gaming machine data has been tracked using the Electronic Monitoring System (EMS).
Before that, turnover was estimated based on tax and expected payouts to players:
- 1989–1991: 83% was returned to players.
- 1997–2007: 88% was returned to players.
Here are some past turnover numbers for gaming machines:
- 1991: $632m
- 1995: $1,138m
- 2000: $3,747m
- 2005: $8,558m
- 2012: $4,244m
Casinos
Casino turnover is estimated using tax data and other records.
Here are some past figures for the total amount bet at casinos:
- 1995: $313m
- 2000: $2,858m
- 2005: $3,936m
- 2010: $3,783m
- 2012: $4,244m
New Zealand’s first casino, Christchurch Casino, opened in 1995. Other casinos followed:
- 1996: SkyCity Auckland
- 2000: Queenstown’s Wharf Casino & Dunedin Casino
- 2001: SkyCity Queenstown
- 2003: SkyCity Hamilton