The retail employment and tax costs of Class 4 gambling in New Zealand

NZIER’s report shows that Class 4 gambling expenditure could generate over $445m additional retail industry sales per annum, resulting in an extra 1,127 full-time equivalent jobs. Given that Class 4 gambling machines are concentrated in high deprivation areas, this preliminary analysis shows the potential size of the prize in increased employment that would primarily benefit highly deprived communities.

Although a cost-benefit analysis of changes to Class 4 gambling regulation would require these potential employment gains to be balanced against gambling sector losses, this preliminary analysis indicates that the retail sector gains are likely to outweigh the losses to the gambling sector with its relatively low labour-intensity.