The digital revolution has transformed many aspects of Kiwi life, with gambling experiencing perhaps one of the most dramatic evolutions. Gone are the days when placing a bet meant a trip to the TAB or an evening at the casino. Today, a smartphone and internet connection are all you need to access a world of virtual pokies, card tables, and sports betting platforms. But as this digital gambling landscape expands, New Zealand finds itself navigating uncharted waters, attempting to balance technological innovation with social responsibility.
New Zealand’s relationship with online gambling has long been complicated. We’ve operated in a peculiar grey zone: Kiwis can legally gamble on international websites, but no local businesses can legally offer online casino services to New Zealanders. This creates a strange mismatch where our citizens can spend money on offshore gambling platforms without any consumer protections or local oversight.
Many New Zealanders might be surprised by the scale of online gambling already happening in our country. The Department of Internal Affairs estimates that Kiwis spend over $300 million annually on online gambling, with some projections suggesting total turnover approaches $3 billion. That’s a significant amount of money flowing out of our economy to international operators who have no obligations to our communities or regulatory standards.
International giants like Bet365 have already established a significant presence with New Zealand players, despite not being specifically licensed here. These established platforms offer sophisticated betting experiences across sports, casino games, and poker, setting a high bar for potential local competitors when regulation arrives. As New Zealand moves toward creating its own regulated market, companies of this calibre will likely be among those bidding for the new licenses.
After years of allowing this grey market to flourish, New Zealand is finally taking steps to create a comprehensive regulatory framework. The forthcoming Online Gambling Bill represents the most significant change to our gambling laws in decades, with plans to create a licensed marketplace starting in early 2026.
The government’s approach includes auctioning 15 online casino licenses to operators who will then be permitted to legally offer their services to New Zealanders. This marks a dramatic shift in policy and brings New Zealand in line with other developed nations that have already established regulated online gambling markets.
While this regulatory evolution is significant, it has sparked intense debate among industry stakeholders. Local gambling operators worry that international companies will dominate the market, while advocacy groups are concerned about increased gambling harm. The question of whether to prioritise domestic operators or create an open international marketplace has become particularly contentious.
Global platforms like PokerStars, which already attract many New Zealand players to its international poker tournaments and casino games, demonstrate the sophisticated technology and user experience that international operators bring to the table. Such established brands offer advanced security features, mobile apps with seamless functionality, and enormous player pools that would be difficult for purely local operations to match. This technological gap is one reason why the government seems inclined to allow international operators into the new regulated market.
One of the most fascinating aspects of New Zealand’s traditional gambling model has been the requirement for community contributions. Our existing gambling framework—particularly for pokies—requires profits to be distributed to community organisations. This creates an unusual ecosystem where local sports teams, arts programmes, and community services receive substantial funding from gambling activities.
The primary motivation behind regulation, according to van Velden, is increasing the safety of online gambling rather than revenue generation. “For me, that’s less about, how do we gather tax and more about how do we get the balance right for allowing people to use a legal channel to gamble, while at the same time protecting people from the worst kinds of harm that can come from online gambling,” she told RNZ (2025).
The new law will ban operators without a license from offering online casino gambling to New Zealanders, with fines up to $5 million. Licensed operators will be subject to strict rules, including the payment of GST, a 12 per cent gambling duty, and the problem gambling levy.
Despite these measures, there remain concerns about potential increases in problem gambling. Studies from countries like the UK and Australia have associated gambling advertising with rises in problem gambling, suggesting that careful monitoring will be essential as New Zealand implements its new regulatory framework.
The technological evolution that has enabled online gambling’s growth also offers potential solutions for harm reduction. Advanced algorithms can identify problematic gambling patterns, allowing for early intervention. Self-exclusion programmes can be more comprehensively implemented online than in physical locations, and mandatory spending limits can be enforced more effectively.
New Zealand has the opportunity to leverage these technological solutions as part of its regulatory approach, potentially setting a new standard for responsible gambling oversight in the digital age.
For instance, online platforms can:
These technological tools represent a genuine opportunity to create a safer gambling environment, but their effectiveness will depend on how robustly they’re implemented and enforced by regulators.
As a late adopter of online gambling regulation, New Zealand has the advantage of learning from other countries’ experiences. The UK, Australia, Sweden, and numerous other jurisdictions have already travelled this road, with varying degrees of success.
Some international models emphasise stringent consumer protections but struggle with enforcement. Others have created highly profitable tax models but failed to adequately address problem gambling. By studying these examples, New Zealand can potentially develop a more balanced approach that avoids the pitfalls experienced elsewhere.
The timing of our regulatory shift also coincides with a growing global conversation about gambling harm and responsible industry practices. Many jurisdictions that embraced online gambling early are now implementing stricter controls as the social impacts become clearer. New Zealand has the opportunity to incorporate these lessons from the outset.
As we move toward implementation in 2026, the conversation around online gambling will continue to evolve. The decisions made today will shape not just an industry but also how gambling fits into our broader cultural and social fabric.
For everyday Kiwis, the changes will mean greater choice, stronger consumer protections, but also increased exposure to gambling opportunities. The challenge for our society will be navigating this new landscape thoughtfully, embracing innovation while protecting our communities and preserving what makes New Zealand’s approach to gambling unique.
Whether the new regulatory framework succeeds will ultimately depend on how well it balances these competing priorities: economic opportunity, technological innovation, consumer freedom, and social responsibility. It’s a complex challenge, but one that offers the potential for New Zealand to develop a truly world-class approach to gambling in the digital age.
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