New Zealand launch online gambling consultation
In New Zealand it has been confirmed that there will now be a public consultation into whether or not there should be a sweeping legalisation of a locally-regulated online gambling market.
On Wednesday, the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) confirmed that it was launching a consultation into this potential expansion. The consultation was designed to determine the general public’s views of the potential change and ascertain if there is an appetite for online gambling legalisation.
The consultation will until the 20th of September and interested parties have been advised to visit the website for further information.
As part of this process, the DIA noted that the current gambling laws date back to 2003 and are thus in desperate need of being updated. At the moment, only the state-run NZ TAB and Lotto NZ, are legally allowed to offer a restricted range online gambling products.
As part of the consultation, residents have been presented with 4 individual options. One of these being the status quo and the following three being variations of change.
The other options include (a) extending the range of products that Lotto and TAB can offer online, (b) licensing domestic charitable or commercial operators for online gambling, or (c) throwing the doors open to any qualified entity, domestic or international, to provide online gambling products to local residents.
The DIA notes that over the past 18 months residents of New Zealand have spent around NZ$381million on internationally licensed online gambling providers. One of the key changes facing the DIA is how to target this particular issue.
The DIA insists that it “doesn’t see online gambling as necessarily ‘bad’” and that this process is not about “outlawing” online gambling for Kiwis, who at present aren’t legally barred from patronizing international gambling sites. But the DIA wants to “future-proof” the country’s laws while minimizing and preventing the potential harms of online gambling on Kiwi society
One this note, the DIA wants advice on what kind of steps that it should be taking. The options include prohibiting or strictly limiting online gambling advertising, ensuring adequate funding of problem gambling programs and public education campaigns, and a possible ban on gambling online via credit cards potential means of limiting self-harm. This is something that the UK has also been considering.
This all comes at the same time that Skycity Entertainment Group, a local casino operator, announced its own plans to launch its own online gambling operation. This would be powered by the Gaming Innovation Group and would be licensed in Malta.
Skycity’s CEO said the launch, which will happen later this year, was made with the “general expectation” that New Zealand would regulate online casino gambling “in the foreseeable future.”
