New Zealand is a progressive and peaceful remote island in the South Pacific Ocean. They are ranked second as the most peaceful country in the world and the people are noted for having a calm, relaxed manner and a positive outlook on life. Being hospitable and sociable is part of their nature as well as being time conscious.
Online Casino in New Zealand
Online gambling in its purest form is business and all decent virtual gambling operators imposed rules according to the regulations and laws of their country. Some might be too stern and the players may find it a bit challenging but they are downright legit. According to Casinocrawlers.com virtual betting is gaining popularity in the country and reputable online casinos are also growing in popularity in New Zealand where players can get access and gamble safely. The majority of them are into online poker, blackjack, lotteries, roulette, and video poker.
Is gambling acceptable in New Zealand?
All types of betting both online and offline are allowed in the country. The gambling industry from 2011 increased steadily until 2018 wherein an estimate of 520,000 people are gambling online reaching an estimate of 2.4 billion New Zealand dollars. By 2020, the online pokies (poker) became the all the time favorite of the majority while staying at home during the lockdown.
New Zealand has five casinos and three of them namely, Christchurch Casino, Dunedin Casino, Skycity Wharf Casino, and the Skycity Queenstown are located on the South Island while the Skycity Auckland and Skycity Hamilton are on the North Island. The reason why there are only a few casinos in the country is that the current legislation discourages the gambling industry to grow.
The land has a lot of bingo halls and big race tracks because the people in New Zealand adore horse races and bingo.
Gambling brief timeline in New Zealand
Gambling has been a big business in the land since the 19th century where gambling on the horses was then the rage until at present. The first race track was held in the Bay of Islands in 1835 and it was a huge success. There were other popular games back then such as card games and other athletic competitions.
Unfortunately, the religion which was dominated by the Protestant church opposed the said activity thus bookmakers for horse racing were banned. Card games and other forms of gambling were then held on steamboats. Pakapoo or lotto which was introduced by the Chinese community became a hit as time passed by as well as card games which were influenced by the Americans while searching for gold in the land.
The National Art Union Lotteries
It became full operation in 1932 under Hammond and McArthur under government regulation. It is a form of a lottery but since the prize was too paltry, the majority of the bettors had taken part in illegal offshore lottery betting. In 1950 the government taxed these lotteries but the revenue was not worth considering since it was too small.
The Golden Kiwi
In 1961, the Minister of Internal Affairs Leon Gotz founded a more engaging form of lottery which became a huge success and in high demand despite the opposition of some religious groups. The Lottery funds were fairly distributed. As time went by, the public lost interest in the Golden Kiwi until 1989 when it finally ended.
TAB
TAB NZ or the Totalisator Agency Board is the name given to the totalisator or a tote board that conveys information usually a race track or a telethon that monopolizes South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia. In New Zealand, a TAB is a division of the New Zealand Racing Board and supplies all sports games in the land.
As mentioned, bookmaking was banned from 1920 until 1961 when betting on horses was taken over by a state-run agency which is the TAB.
Pokies
Poker or pokies as they called it was introduced in the country in 1987. Pokies are actually slot machines that are operated by charitable institutions. Pokies can be found near subway stations, inside the hotel, and in bars.
The introduction of the slot machines was a huge success and on July 1, 2009, Player Information Display was installed on all slot machines to inform the gambler how much they lost, their stakes, and how long they have been playing. Later, slot machines were installed in Skycity Auckland.
Poker and Horserace are part of the culture of New Zealand and they have poker festivals like the WPT New Zealand and the New Zealand Championships.
Interesting Information about Gambling
- More than half of the profit generated from pokies, horse race lotteries, and other gambling activities goes back to the people.
- All winnings are tax-free as long as the player is not a professional gambler therefore the government doesn’t have to know about it.
- All forms of lotteries (state and online state) are controlled by the New Zealand Lotteries Commission.
- The government allows the people to gamble in any offshore casino sites but casino sites from abroad are not allowed to advertise or promote in any form on the land.
- Players must be 18 years of age to participate in sports betting, lottery, and horse race and buy scratch cards.
- Betting in a land-based casino, one must be 20 years old.
The Gambling Act of 2003
The gambling law of New Zealand has been revised and altered many times until in 2003 the new Gambling Act was proclaimed. Sports betting and online lotteries are allowed in the land and the majority are prohibited including online casinos. Hence New Zealanders are free to play at online casinos and gambling sites from offshore sites without any restraint.
However, the government became lenient in the later part thus giving a green light to virtual casino operators in their country to operate a casino site as long as they get a proper license and must abide by the gambling regulations that the government imposed.
To ensure the proper type of gambling Amendment Number 2 in 2007 stated that all gambling operators are responsible for all gambling activities that they offer to the players. In this way, the operators have to adhere to the gambling rules.
Final Insight:
The gambling law in New Zealand is strict and certain rules should be followed. With the kind of rules that they have, the players are assured that their casino sites are safe and secure therefore people can enjoy wagering in peace.
