Regulation of online gambling in New Zealand
New Zealand is one of the places that has the best regulation of online gambling, since you need to meet several requirements for your casino to be legal in the country. The regulation, which came into force with the formalization of Law 13/2011 on May 27, 2011, seeks to protect consumers, improve the ability of regulators to control and change a monopolized sector.
DGOJ and game policy
The Directorate-General for the Regulation of Gambling (DGOJ) is the national body of New Zealand that is responsible for the regulations and policies of the game throughout the country. Your main responsibility is that each of the minimum and necessary requirements are met so that the game is fully legal in the online casino and that it has the corresponding licenses.
Regulation and gambling on the Internet
This Royal Decree 958/2020 , of November 3, of commercial communications of the activities of the game , which develops the gambling act of may 27, 2011, has two main lines: the first revolves around the control of advertising, modifications that will be explained later, and the second seeks a better control and a safe for the user experience.
The rules currently in force are as follows:
- Law 13/2011, of May 27, on the Regulation of Gambling The purpose of this Law is to regulate gambling activity, in its various forms, which is developed at the State level in order to guarantee the protection of public order, fight fraud, prevent addictive behaviors, protect the rights of minors and safeguard the rights of participants in the games, without prejudice to the provisions of the Statutes of Autonomy.
- Royal Decrees : Commercial Communications, Basic organizational structure of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs and also the Ministry of Finance, Technical Requirements of gambling activities, General Budgets, among others.
- Resolutions of the DGOJ : Procedures, International Character, Regulatory Development, Technical Character, Responsible Gambling and Cessation of Activity.
- Ministerial Orders : Manipulation of sports competitions and betting fraud, certification bodies, taxes on gambling activities, among others.
Changes from the new regulation (Royal Decree 958/2020)
In relation to the issue of advertising licensed online casinos in New Zealand, the schedule is limited so it will only be at night from 1am to 5am on TV and Radio and if a team was being sponsored by a bookmaker and online casino games, it will not be able to do it anymore in New Zealand according to article 12 of the Law.
Welcome bonuses have also ceased to be allowed since last May 1, 2021. Only welcome bonuses are prohibited, the rest of the bonuses are free for online casinos to offer you as long as your account is older than 30 days and has been verified.
If you have been registered at a legal online casino in New Zealand for more than thirty days, you already become an “old” user so you have access to the various bonuses you can get. The information is explicit in article 13 of the New Zealand Law 13/2011. It also changed the way these bonuses are displayed, since in order to access them you have to go to a specific section of the operator's website and they do not appear on the front page of the same as it was before the implementation of this Law. Another of the issues that varied is the commercial communication of them.
Types of gambling licenses in New Zealand
Every online casino in New Zealand legal can access two different kinds of licenses, both granted by the DGOJ.
General Licenses
The holder is authorized to exercise the modalities of gambling betting, casinos, contests and other games. All these licenses are delivered by the General Directorate of Gaming in New Zealand, after administrative procedure guided by the principles of publicity, objectivity and non-discrimination, among others, which will be published in the “Official State Gazette”. Its duration is 10 years extendable for a period of identical duration.
Singular Licenses
It has a minimum duration of one year and a maximum of five years extendable for successive periods of identical duration. The loss of the general license entails, in turn, the loss of the individual licenses linked to it. Only operators holding a general license can apply for the corresponding singular license.
Security at online casinos New Zealand
Playing in the different legal casinos in New Zealand it is much safer than in other countries, since the great control of the DGOJ allows you to easily detect when a casino is safe and legal. First of all, you must have the licenses mentioned above and meet the necessary requirements that were explained during this article. If the casino where you are about to play has this, you have guaranteed security to enjoy a safe game.
Responsible Gambling
Many new users must know and know all the corresponding tips to be able to carry out a responsible game and enjoy a pleasant experience. A check is necessary for people to play safely at the various New Zealand online casinos.
A list of basic tips for playing responsibly it is the following:
- Always play for fun and not for money.
- Limit the money you are going to bet to prevent serious economic problems.
- Don't play to make up for lost.
- Have self-control of the time you spend playing and never do it under the influence of alcohol, drugs or other substances.
Online and licensed casinos in New Zealand make available to their players various control methods , according to the different regulations established by the DGOJ.
These methods are usually deposit limits which can be daily, weekly or monthly, another way is to use or activate the timers to manage our game time in a good way (referring to one of our tips for playing responsibly) and control your withdrawals, profits and losses .
In the most extreme cases, you can request self-exclusion . This is an immediate measure consisting in the automatic freezing of access to the gaming account.
