By Teresa Tunstall
Capital Development
After shots – Atrium, MGF carpet, etc.
Skycity Auckland
30th march 2016
I have family in New Zealand so I make it a point to holiday there every year. It’s an interesting country, the same size as the UK but divided into two – the North Island which contains 3.3 million population, and the South Island with 1.2 million population. Thus added together the entire population is roughly 5.5 million. The UK has a population of nearly 70 million making it a very lucrative country for companies to invest in gambling, and easily available for those who wish to play.
However, gambling in New Zealand is illegal unless it is authorised under the Gambling Act 2003. In addition to this rule there are certain forms of gambling that are specifically prohibited under the Act, one of which is Remote Interactive Gambling.
For the sake of elucidation, players in New Zealand must be at least 20 years of age to enter casinos, but need to be only 18years old to participate in sports betting (including horse racing, scratch cards and lotteries).
Each state or province determines its own minimum age for gambling. Perversely, some have actually two minimum ages – 18 years old in some casinos, 21 in others. This is typical in states with alcohol-licensed casinos where, if alcohol is served on the casino floor, the minimum age is 21.
Queenstown currently has only one working casino as a result of the Coronavirus shutdown with 12 gaming tables, gaming, slots and video poker machines. The largest casino in the country is SKY City in Auckland with a hundred table games, nine Poker tables and 2,100 gaming and video poker machines.
The listed available gaming centres are Sky City Auckland Casino, Sky City Christchurch Casino, Sky City Hamilton Casino, Dunedin Casino, Sky City Wharf Casino –six in all for the whole country, whereas in London alone there are 24 casinos in all.Remember we’re still the same size as New Zealand!
NZ Online poker is legal in New Zealand and generally players do not have to pay taxes on their winnings which is the same as it is in the UK. The Gambling Act of 2003 makes it illegal for any business other than the TAB (Telephone Accounting and Billing System)and the New Zealand Lotteries Commission to operate remote interactive gambling. This seems to insinuate a ‘closed shop,’ ownership. The Totalisator Agency Board, universally shortened to TAB or T.A.B. (confusingly like the Telephone Accounting and Billing System) is the name given to monopoly totalisator organisations in Australia and New Zealand.
There are specific regulations regarding children; they must be accompanied by a parent or carer to use the toilet facilities, and may not enter the Bar, TAB or Gaming areas. It is an offence against minors to approach or obtain service in any of those areas and those Children under 18 years of age must not be served with or permitted to drink alcohol.
If you think about it logically it’s quite a conundrum, throwing the responsibility at the feet of the child rather than the adult.
Maori are the ‘tangata whenua,’ the indigenous people of New Zealand. They came there more than 1000 years ago from their mythical Polynesian homeland of Hawaiki. Today, one in seven New Zealanders identify as Māori. Their history, language and traditions are central to New Zealand’s identity. Rivers have spiritual significance to the Māori as well as being a valuable food and water source for many of the Māori, water being an essential ingredient regarded as a “taonga” or treasure. They believe that it must be safeguarded for future generation as it is considered to possess a life force (Maori), and have a spirit.
Recently the Maori in Queenstown celebrated that the local Shotover River was behested by the Maori. However it still remains that water in New Zealand is free to everyone because the two opposing sides -theKiwiand the Maori – can’t agree!
In today’s unprecedented Coronavirus age and with all that is being experienced throughout the universe it seems New Zealand has become the ‘Doomsday’ destination for the world’s elite with many buying up property. Bizarrely one New York business man had to actually call the manufacturer of his bunker and ask how to unlock the door! Whilst I was there the general view was that it would be safer to head to Queenstown for safety should there be a serious virus attack. On a different note it probably will take a long time to analyse all the implications of the Coronavirus which seems to have happened over such a short period of time. Eventually much will be revealed and sadly the true number of people globally who died because of this awful Virus will be breathtakingly calculated.
So to finish, I wish you all a healthy and safe future. Let us hope we all come out of this terrible mess to find a happier time; let’s pray that a Pandemic never occurs again but if it does we can deal with it. Stay safe!