Betting activities in NZ are mainly guided by the Gambling Act 2003. Any bet placement that is not addressed by the act is considered unlawful. The government, through the regulations, aims to ensure that the national community gains from gambling proceeds and also reduces the issue of problem gambling.
The Act categorizes gambling into four classes, providing guidelines on who can participate, the prizes/turnover requirement, and licensure. In New Zealand, only legal casinos are those that are land-based like, for example, Sky City Auckland casino.
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Categorization Of Gambling Activities
Class 1
Gambling covered can only have a turnover of $500 or lower. This is the only betting activity that can be run privately by a person. All profits from the wagering must be applied to the winners.
Class 2
The range of prizes for class 2 gambling must lie between $500 and $5,000. Possible turnover from the gambling activity ranges between $500 and $25000. Unlike class 1, gambling in this category can only be conducted by the society.
The gambling act does not specify whether the society must be corporate or unincorporated. No remuneration or commission is to be paid for the class 2 gambling. No licensing is required for betting activities in this category.
Class 3 and Class 4
The total value for class 3 gambling must be higher than $5,000. Class 4 gambling, on the other hand, involves gambling that uses gaming machines. The New Zealand regulation dictates that class 3 and 4 gambling operations must be licensed.
Prohibition According To The Gambling Act 2003
Remote Interactive Gambling
The law does not allow long-distance gambling that might require the use of an electronic device. Therefore, gambling over computers, telephones, radios, or any other device falling under this category is illegal.
While the regulation does not allow online betting in New Zealand, you can still partake in gambling conducted overseas. In other words, a person based in New Zealand can gamble over the internet without attracting any legal penalties provided the website is not based in New Zealand.
Popular Overseas Online Casinos With NZD
Even that it is prohibited to advertise offshore gambling brands, it is not illegal to play at those brands. That is why there is a lot of operators with specials offers for NewZealanders. Most popular those where you can deposit in domestic currency and players often go and deposit at online casino NZD sites because it is more comfortable in domestic currency, and there are no fees.
Advertising Overseas Gambling
Section 16 of the Act advises against the promotion of overseas gambling. According to the Act, any communication to publicize or promote gambling is unlawful if the operator is outside New Zealand.
Any disclosure, whether intentional or unintentional that might induce a New Zealand resident to bet outside the country is illegal. Therefore, the promotion of online gambling being run by domestic platforms is prohibited. Offenders can attract fines as high as $ 10,000.
Kiwis Love To Gamble Online
However, the regulation is not so strict as it is in some other countries. And Kiwis love to gamble online. Even if advertising is prohibited, there are so many online casino operators at newzealandcasinos.nz available to Kiwis, and the popularity is growing day by day.
There was a lot of discussion about regulating again the law related to offshore brands. The biggest problem for the NZ government is that a lot of money is going out to those offshore operators and never coming back. That is why we will see in the future what will happen and how they are going to fix that problem.
If you are interested in even more entertainment-related articles and information from us here at Bit Rebels, then we have a lot to choose from.
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