New Zealanders are already gambling online; it’s just that, due to the lack of locally regulated online casinos, they have to look for alternative options elsewhere.
You see, online gambling operates in a sort of regulatory grey zone. Even though casinos cannot be hosted locally, people from the country may still be able to find online casinos abroad.
There are two major problems with this issue. First, the money leaves the country, and you cannot tax the casinos (only potential winners). Second, there’s a lack of regulatory oversight that would protect players.
In order to fix these two problems, the New Zealand Government plans to regulate and allow online casinos. Here’s what you should know about it.
Safe Environment for New Zealanders
According to some statistics, Kiwis spend roughly $528 million on gaming machines. These are the figures that are available to authorities since, due to the fact that they have to play on sites that are hosted abroad, it’s nearly impossible to determine how many players engage in online betting.
In other words, Kiwis are already playing, and if there are no safe casino sites specifically for Kiwi players, they’ll find their entertainment elsewhere: enter offshore casinos. These casinos come with great sign-up offers, bonuses, and free spins and don’t require your full financial history in order to play.
The Potential Tax Revenue
Calculating the potential tax revenue of this regulation is really difficult. All you could do is base projections on the number of players currently engaging in offline gambling activities in NZ or try to find a similarly sized country/state that has recently regulated online casinos.
The latter would be an imperfect comparison, mostly because there would be a significant discrepancy in GDP and standard. Even if we go by this figure alone, as of 2023, the New Zealand casinos and gaming sector recorded revenues of $1.9 billion.
Another ideal way of making this projection would be to find out how New Zealanders who are currently playing on no KYC casinos abroad are spending their money. Even then, the comparison would be imperfect because not everyone is going out of their way to find a foreign site.
A local, well-regulated online casino would undoubtedly attract a larger audience and make people comfortable with spending more.
The most important part is that it doesn’t really even matter. What matters is that all of this is revenue that’s currently leaving the country. When it’s regulated, some of it will fill the budget, which is why it will feel like making money out of thin air.
A Growing Industry
There are almost seven billion smartphones in the world, and each of these people is a potential user of online casinos. So, the sooner the government of New Zealand actually regulates it, the better.
The industry is on a steady rise, with a small exception that’s more of a misinterpretation of the situation than an actual statistical anomaly. You see, the peak of online gambling happened in 2020 and 2021 when everyone was forced to stay at home.
Comparing the increase with these two years will mislead you into thinking that the field is stagnating or that it’s in decline. However, aside from those two anomalous years, everything seems peachy in the world of online gambling.
The biggest concern about this is the fact that this further increases the potential cybersecurity risks that your phone is exposed to. Thankfully, with the development in the field of AI, even this issue may soon be resolved.
Even Strict Regulations Are a Step in the Right Direction
From all we’ve heard so far, the initial regulation will be strict, but no one doubts that this is a step in the right direction. At least the money will stay in the country, and players will have a higher level of protection. This makes all the difference in the world.
