Given the sums of money involved – and the sheer reach of state-run gambling – we wanted to look more closely at Lotto NZ’s operation. In a collaboration between AUT and the University of Canterbury journalism programmes, and with partners from the US, we attempted to map Lotto NZ’s growth and impact.

We were particularly interested in analysing which areas of the country had the largest growth in Lotto outlets (our US partners had found in their study, for instance, that the biggest growth in their region had been in poor communities of colour). We were also interested in measuring the extent to which lotteries money was being disbursed back to the communities that spent it. Were the communities that spent the most on lottery products getting the most from the NZ Lottery Grants Board?