This narrative review examines the intersection of gambling harms and stigma among Māori, Pacific peoples, Asian communities and youth in Aotearoa New Zealand. The literature shows that stigma is shaped less by individual behaviour than by structural factors such as colonisation, socio-economic inequities, migration pressures and the concentration of pokies in low-income communities. We identify how stigma is experienced within each population and how it influences help-seeking, highlighting the central role of identity, cultural obligations and collective wellbeing.

This manuscript presents a communication framework embedded in whakapapa. It highlights the experiences of whānau Māori as they discuss the factors that impact their health and wellbeing. It also explores how they deal with socioeconomic challenges, which are contextualised in relation to the whenua, associated ancestral place names and kinship ties. The opening of discursive spaces provides platforms for voice, and led to the establishment of māra kai on ancestral whenua and the (re) clamation of Indigenous knowledge and place names in Feilding, Manawatū.