New Zealand Online Casinos

New Zealand has friendly online casino gambling laws that allow gambling companies based outside of New Zealand to offer online casino games in New Zealand. While the online casino industry is comparatively smaller when compared to countries like Canada and Australia, the friendly online gambling laws in New Zealand has encouraged more offshore operators to launch operations in New Zealand.

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New Zealand: Safe To Play At Online Casinos

While some countries have complex online gambling laws that leave players unsure if they are committing a crime by playing at an online casino, New Zealand has made it very clear through its Gambling Act of 2003 which states that “It is not illegal for someone in New Zealand to participate in gambling over the internet if that website is based overseas”. It is however illegal for players to gambling at an online casino that is run from within New Zealand.

There online casinos in New Zealand have to be very clear as to where the servers are based and make it easy for online player to know that they are playing a regulated and legal online casino website. The online casino industry in the country is run by the Department of Internal Affairs. The online sports betting industry on the other hand is controlled by the New Zealand racing board who has exclusive rights to offer sports betting and racing bets to New Zealanders.

These gambling regulations can seem a little intimidating at first because if a player has a dispute with a foreign online casino website, they cannot depend on New Zealand law to bail them out as the online casino website is governed by the law of the land in which it is based. However New Zealand authorities only allows online casino websites that have been approved in their country of origin to operate in New Zealand. These online casinos will have official certification and documentation present on their website confirming that they are regulated online casino websites.

Non Taxable Gaming Revenue

One of the reasons for the decline in the online casino industry in countries like Italy, Spain and France is due to the high amount of taxes that are imposed on online gamblers. New Zealand does not impose any tax regulations on player winnings making it an online gambling haven.

The guidelines issued by the Inland Revenue department does not make it compulsory for online gamblers to pay any form of taxes on their winnings. The current laws by Inland Revenue still consider online casino gambling as a pastime and hobby.

However much has changed since then and there are many online gamblers in New Zealand who make their living from online gambling.

There has been an increase in the number of online casino websites operating in New Zealand during the last couple of years. Some of the popular online casino games include backgammon, online slots, bingo, online poker, roulette and blackjack.

Online casinos in New Zealand try to build their player base and capture as much market share as possible by offering innovative promotions that offering players attract bonuses. Some anti-casino lobbyists believe that the increase in online casino websites has contributed to the rise of problem gambling in New Zealand and continue to oppose the online casino industry.