Kiwi creator on why he turned down huge offers to plug online gambling
Louis Davis is a Kiwi content creator with a following of over 3 million across all platforms, and has taken to his social media platforms to warn others about the risks.
Speaking with Breakfast this morning, Davis said he received the promotional offers in his email inbox.
"We get hammered with emails every day, they're pretty consistent," he said.
When asked on why he decided to turn down the offer, he said that gambling promotions are causing real harm in communities and were encouraging addictive behaviour.
ADVERTISEMENT
'We are living in an age now where you can gamble in your car, on the toilet, or at work.
The morning's headlines in 90 seconds, including deadly Texas floods, Australian woman attacked by a lion, and Elon Musk's new political party. (Source: 1News)
'There used to be a time and a place for it, but now because of our phones we have access 24/7 to it.
'If they're offering me over $500,000 to ask you to gamble, imagine how much they're stealing from you.'
Data from the Department of Internal Affairs showed that in 2022/23, New Zealanders lost $2.76 billion gambling on the four regulated gambling sectors - Lotto New Zealand, TAB NZ, casinos and class 4 gambling (pokies).
Growing up in Northland, Davis said he witnessed the impacts of gambling firsthand.
"I see the harm of this in my communities, and what it takes from us." he told Breakfast.
ADVERTISEMENT
"There's a reason they give money to people that look like me. They're going after my community."
Davis said he would love to see changes around the rules of advertising, so people don't continue to be tempted by offers from gambling companies.
"People get put in this real hard position, where it's undeniable life-changing money. I almost have empathy for people who have to make that decision,"
"I'd love to see changes made to that system; I don't want it to be a decision people have to make."
DIA has been cracking down on the promotion of offshore gambling, sending cease-and-desist letters to some influencers, and monitoring other accounts.
Millie Elder-Holmers was recently fined $5000 for promoting online gambling.
Under the Gambling Act it is illegal to publish an advertisement for an offshore gambling operator.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
1News
20 minutes ago
- 1News
Erin Patterson found guilty of murder in deadly mushroom case
Erin Patterson has been found guilty of murder after a jury concluded she deliberately served a deadly meal to kill three of her former in-laws. After a nine-week trial in the Victorian Supreme Court, the 50-year-old was convicted over the deaths of Don and Gail Patterson and Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson. They all died following a beef Wellington lunch in July 2022. A fourth guest, Pastor Ian Wilkinson, survived after weeks in hospital and a liver transplant. Patterson was found guilty of his attempted murder. A jury has found Victorian woman Erin Patterson guilty of murder, nearly two years after a family lunch ended in tragedy. (Source: 1News) ADVERTISEMENT Prosecutors told the jury this was a targeted act, alleging Patterson knowingly served death cap mushrooms, kept herself safe from harm, and fabricated a story to mislead police and health officials. They pointed to shifting accounts, deleted phone data, a dumped food dehydrator and internet searches about poisonous fungi. Patterson admitted lying at times, including claiming she had cancer and giving conflicting stories about the mushrooms' source. But she insisted the meal was never intended to harm, calling it a 'horrible mistake'. Erin Patterson found guilty after weeks-long trial, TVNZ+ She testified for eight days in her own defence, denying intent and growing emotional when describing her relationship with the victims. Her defence lawyer argued the Crown's case lacked motive and relied on circumstantial evidence. But the jury was ultimately convinced beyond reasonable doubt that Patterson intended to kill or seriously harm her guests. She will now be sentenced, bringing to a close — pending appeal — one of the most complex cases in recent Australian history. ADVERTISEMENT Timeline of the case Prosecutor Nanette Rogers, left, with an illustration of Erin Patterson. Composite image by Crystal Choi. (Source: 1News) July 29, 2022 - Erin Patterson hosts a lunch at her Leongatha home, about 135km from Melbourne. On the menu: beef Wellington. Four guests fall violently ill. August 4, 2022 - Don and Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson die. Pastor Ian Wilkinson survives after weeks in hospital and a liver transplant. November 2, 2023 - Erin Patterson is charged with three counts of murder and one of attempted murder. April 29, 2025 - The trial begins in Morwell, Victoria. Over the next nine weeks, the court hears from police, forensic experts, mushroom specialists and family. June 2025 - Patterson testifies over eight days, denying intent but admitting to multiple lies. Late June 2025 - Closing arguments are delivered. The jury begins deliberations. July 7, 2025 - The jury delivers its decision: Guilty.
1News
7 hours ago
- 1News
Are NZ banks being taxed properly?
The Government is looking at whether banks in New Zealand are taxed appropriately. Finance Minister Nicola Willis said she is continuing to receive advice from IRD on how income tax laws applied to the major banks in New Zealand, particularly compared with Australia. Willis asked for the advice last year, but said no announcements would be made until Budget next year. The key issues were around how the "parent banks" and branch banks in New Zealand interacted for tax purposes. She said there was some "very arcane and complex tax law" in that area where the OECD had guidance, but New Zealand operated slightly differently. ADVERTISEMENT Willis was also looking at the Australian "major bank levy" which New Zealand did not have. This forced banks with more than $100 billion in liabilities to pay a levy to the government, raising significant sums a year. Willis would not rule out applying something similar here, but she did confirm the Government was not looking at a windfall tax. "There's a range of highly technical, highly complex issues with the way that banks are taxed, and we're just doing a check in to make sure that it's resulting in an overall fair system." Willis said it was possible more revenue could be generated for the Crown if the Government found banks were not paying the full amount of tax expected. Acting Prime Minister David Seymour was asked about the issue on Monday and said he believed banks were being fairly taxed. "Some of the biggest taxpayers in New Zealanders are banks," he said, and stated they were all paying the 28% average tax rate as their company tax. "There's nothing to suggest that they are not paying the same share that they would if they were any other kind of business." ADVERTISEMENT Asked about Willis' work, Seymour said, like most ministers, she was "always asking for advice, always tossing around the ideas". He suspected the result of that work would show banks were fairly taxed. Seymour said, from what he saw, there seemed to be a "consistent pattern" in terms of what banks paid, and the question around any proposals to change the settings would need to be based on "fairness". He pointed to a dairy, retail or manufacturing company that were doing "pretty much the same stuff, making the same profit and paying the same tax, would you treat them differently"? "One of the core principles of taxation is that 'like taxpayers pay tax alike', and 'unlike, taxpayers pay tax un-alike' based on the size of the difference. "So you'd start with fairness as your principle." He acknowledged there may be more information he was not aware of. He also wanted more information on the major bank levy. "I've seen the argument for that, and it goes something like this: Banks inevitably get bailed out. ADVERTISEMENT "If they're so big that their failure would affect the entire economy, maybe they should be putting something aside for that rainy day, if it happens one day. That's the argument. "It's, in a way, a form of de facto deposit insurance." He said it was an interesting argument, but would need to see the detail before deciding on supporting a proposal or not as ACT leader.
1News
12 hours ago
- 1News
Diddy gets standing ovation from inmates after court victory
Sean 'Diddy' Combs got a standing ovation from fellow inmates when the music mogul returned to jail after winning acquittals on potential life-in-prison charges, providing what his lawyer says might have been the best thing he could do for Black incarcerated men in America. 'They all said: 'We never get to see anyone who beats the government,'' attorney Marc Agnifilo told The Associated Press in a weekend interview days after a jury acquitted Combs of sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy charges. Combs, 55, remains jailed at a federal lockup in Brooklyn after his conviction on prostitution-related charges, which could put him in prison for several more years. Any sentence will include credit for time already served. So far that's almost 10 months. After federal agents raided his homes in Los Angeles and Miami in March 2024, Agnifilo said he told Combs to expect to be arrested on sex trafficking charges. The morning's headlines in 90 seconds, including deadly Texas floods, Australian woman attacked by a lion, and Elon Musk's new political party. (Source: 1News) ADVERTISEMENT 'I said: 'Maybe it's your fate in life to be the guy who wins,'' he recalled during a telephone interview briefly interrupted by a jailhouse call from Combs. 'They need to see that someone can win. I think he took that to heart.' Blunt trial strategy works The verdict in Manhattan federal court came after a veteran team of eight defence lawyers led by Agnifilo executed a trial strategy that resonated with jurors. Combs passed lawyers notes during effective cross-examinations of nearly three dozen witnesses over two months, including Combs' ex-employees. The lawyers told jurors Combs was a jealous domestic abuser with a drug problem who participated in the swinger lifestyle through threesomes involving Combs, his girlfriends and another man. 'You may think to yourself, wow, he is a really bad boyfriend,' Combs' lawyer Teny Geragos told jurors in her May opening statement. But that, she said, 'is simply not sex trafficking'. Agnifilo said the blunt talk was a 'no brainer". Defence attorney Marc Agnifilo, speaks outside Manhattan federal court July 2, 2025, in New York. (Source: Associated Press) ADVERTISEMENT 'The violence was so clear and up front and we knew the government was going to try to confuse the jury into thinking it was part of a sex trafficking effort. So we had to tell the jury what it was so they wouldn't think it was something it wasn't,' he said. Combs and his lawyers seemed deflated Tuesday (local time) when jurors said they were deadlocked on the racketeering count but reached a verdict on sex trafficking and lesser prostitution-related charges. A judge ordered them back to deliberate Wednesday. 'No one knows what to think,' Agnifilo said. Then he slept on it. Morning surprise awakes lawyer 'I wake up at three in the morning and I text Teny and say: "We have to get a bail application together," he recalled. 'It's going to be a good verdict for us but I think he went down on the prostitution counts so let's try to get him out'. He said he 'kind of whipped everybody into feeling better' after concluding jurors would have convicted him of racketeering if they had convicted him of sex trafficking because trafficking was an alleged component of racketeering. Agnifilo met with Combs before court and Combs entered the courtroom rejuvenated. Smiling, the onetime Catholic schoolboy prayed with family. In less than an hour, the jury matched Agnifilo's prediction. ADVERTISEMENT The seemingly chastened Combs mouthed 'thank you' to jurors and smiled as family and supporters applauded. After he was escorted from the room, spectators cheered the defence team, a few chanting: 'Dream Team! Dream Team!' Several lawyers, including Geragos, cried. 'This was a major victory for the defence and a major loss for the prosecution,' said Mitchell Epner, a lawyer who worked with Agnifilo as a federal prosecutor in New Jersey over two decades ago. He credited 'a dream team of defence lawyers' against prosecutors who almost always win. Agnifilo showcased what would become his trial strategy — belittling the charges and mocking the investigation that led to them — last September in arguing unsuccessfully for bail. The case against Combs was what happens when the 'federal government comes into our bedrooms,' he said. In this courtroom sketch, Sean "Diddy" Combs reacts after he was convicted of prostitution-related offenses but acquitted of sex trafficking and racketeering charges. (Source: Associated Press) Lawyers gently questioned most witnesses During an eight-week trial, Combs' lawyers picked apart the prosecution case with mostly gentle but firm cross-examinations. Combs never testified and his lawyers called no witnesses. Sarah Krissoff, a federal prosecutor in Manhattan from 2008 to 2021, said Combs' defence team 'had a narrative from the beginning and they did all of it without putting on any witnesses. That's masterful'. ADVERTISEMENT Ironically, Agnifilo expanded the use of racketeering laws as a federal prosecutor on an organised crime task force in New Jersey two decades ago, using them often to indict street gangs in violence-torn cities. Where to get help for sexual violence. (Source: 1News) 'I knew the weak points in the statute,' he said. 'The statute is very mechanical. If you know how the car works, you know where the fail points are.' He said prosecutors had 'dozens of fail points'. 'They didn't have a conspiracy, they just didn't,' he said. 'They basically had Combs' personal life and tried to build racketeering around personal assistants.' Some personal assistants, even after viewing videos of Combs beating his longtime girlfriend, Casandra 'Cassie' Ventura, had glowing things to say about Combs on cross examination. Once freed, Combs likely to reenter domestic abusers' programme ADVERTISEMENT For Combs, Agnifilo sees a long road ahead once he is freed as he works on personal demons, likely reentering a programme for domestic batterers that he had just started before his arrest. 'He's doing OK,' said Agnifilo, who speaks with him four or five times daily. (Source: Breakfast) He said Combs genuinely desires improvement and 'realises he has flaws like everyone else that he never worked on'. 'He burns hot in all matters. I think what he has come to see is that he has these flaws and there's no amount of fame and no amount of fortune' that can erase them," he said. 'You can't cover them up." For Agnifilo, a final surprise awaited him after Combs' bail was rejected when a man collapsed into violent seizures at the elevators outside the courtroom. 'I'm like: 'What the hell?'' recalled the lawyer schooled in treating seizures. ADVERTISEMENT Agnifilo straddled him, pulling him onto his side and using a foot to prevent him from rolling backward while a law partner, Jacob Kaplan, put a backpack under the man's head and Agnifilo's daughter took his pulse. 'We made sure he didn't choke on vomit. It was crazy. I was worried about him,' he said. The man was eventually taken away conscious by rescue workers, leaving Agnifilo to ponder a tumultuous day. 'It was like I was getting punked by God,' he said.
