Financial stress among international students in New Zealand may be driving them towards gambling, said Shirleen Prasad, Problem Gambling Foundation counsellor.
Ms. Prasad told Radio NZ Problem Gambling Foundation noticed a sharp increase last year in harmful gambling among Auckland’s South Asian community, many of them Indian students.
She said some students turned to gambling because of financial stress caused by loans taken to pay their course fees.
"That can be an immense continued financial strain for the family back home, as well as the student," she said.
Quoting figures from a prominent casino in Auckland, RNZ reported that 311 people were excluded from the casino in the first six months of this year.
Problem Gambling Foundation counsellor Shirleen Prasad. Source: Radio NZ
Among those excluded were 85 Chinese and 52 Indians.
Sky City figures showed 311 people were excluded from its Auckland casino in the first six months of this year.
An Indian student in Auckland told RNZ News gambling was common among his friends.
"When they don't get any job or anything and they are left with some small amount of money, like $100, they go try their luck in the casino," he said.
"But they don't get anything - even one of the guys, he's my friend, he lost about $24,000 in the casino."
Manurewa's Nanaksar Sikh Temple administrator Rajvinder Singh said students had told him gambling was a problem for some of their friends.
Rajvinder Singh Source: Radio NZ
"In a way, they are trying to rebel. They've been let down, they've been cheated," he said, referring to problems some had with their tertiary education institutions and with the agents who got them study visas.
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