Quantifying Māori spend on tobacco, alcohol & gambling

NZIER report prepared for the Centre of Research Excellence: Indigenous Sovereignty & Smoking as part of a programme of research supported by a grant from the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World, Inc.

Māori spent $1 billion on tobacco, $731 million on alcohol and $376 million on gambling activities in 2018. They have the highest prevalence rate of tobacco consumption (33.5%) – more than twice the national prevalence rate of tobacco consumption (14.9%) and more than two and a half times the non-Māori prevalence rate of tobacco consumption (13.2%). Māori prevalence rates of all forms of gambling were higher than the national prevalence rates of all forms of gambling.

Tobacco taxes account for 71% of total tobacco expenditure, alcohol taxes account for 36% of total alcohol expenditure and gambling taxes account for 41% of total gambling expenditure.