The Lotteries Commission recently announced a record profit of $189 million - $32.4 million more than last year.

That profit equates to between $200 and $250 spent per New Zealand family, said Mr Carpenter, or roughly $60 for every person in New Zealand. "If you take the profit as representing maybe 20 per cent of turnover, then average total spending per household is in the region of $1000.

"This money often comes from the people in the community who can least afford it. So community groups are benefiting from the poor."

The Lotteries Commission attributed the increased profit to two major prize draws which prompted optimistic punters to buy tickets in record numbers.

Graham Aitken, national operations manager of the Problem Gambling Foundation, said the PGF is concerned about behavioural change when Lotto jackpots rise. "When it gets into the tens of millions, people start buying a whole lot more. That's when they probably put the power-bill money on it.

"Gambling addiction is not high among Lotto buyers compared with poker machines. The problem with Lotto is when it starts becoming plan A for people's budgeting problems."

Mr Aitken said that in Auckland, Lotto outlets are more frequent in the lower socio-economic areas. And surveys on gambling undertaken by the Department of Internal Affairs and the Health Sponsorship Council found the majority of Lotto players were in high Deprivation Index areas. Maori and Pacific Islanders had the highest rates of participation.

In one survey, 48 per cent of people saw buying a lottery ticket as harmful.

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