Gambling today
Gambling is a popular leisure pastime for many people in New Zealand. Whether laying a sporting bet, buying a lottery ticket, or playing on the pokies, there are plenty of opportunities to enjoy. However, it is only relatively recently that the country opened up to legalised casino-style and slot-machine gambling. While no online casinos are permitted to operate from New Zealand, there is no restriction on players accessing offshore sites. Reputable gambling sites take payments from all the top payment processors, including Visa, Mastercard and PayPal. As a result, these have become increasingly popular, and time2play.com have rated and ranked those accessible to players from New Zealand.
According to recently published data, the average Kiwi spends over $600 a year on gambling and revenues are estimated to be more than $3 billion annually. Around 43% of the total money staked is spent on the pokies, and the balance is a mix of casino gambling, sports betting, and Lotto. The 2003 Gambling Act regulates how gambling in the country currently operates and ensures that community projects share a significant portion of revenues.
A brief history
Gambling has been integral to life in New Zealand for a long time. The first horse race meeting was held in the Bay of Islands in 1835, and betting on the horses fast became the country’s most popular form of gambling. Card games such as poker and pontoon were popular in the 1930s amongst European settlers, traders, and some of the Māori population. There was also gambling on billiards, skittles, and athletic prowess.
While popular with citizens, there was opposition to gambling from Protestant churches, leading to increasingly restrictive practices. From 1910, bookmakers were banned from horse race meetings which seems ironic given the popularity of having a flutter on the horses.
At the racetrack
So, the off-course bookmakers formed the Dominion Sportsmen’s Association, and during the 1920s, turnover exceeded $5 million a year. At the racecourse, the totalizator generates income for the racing clubs. However, the Totalisator Agency Board (TAB) started to operate in the 1950s, and the DSA went out of business.
By 1972 the Government allowed the first sweepstakes, and the massive jackpots drew large crowds. However, the Government became afraid of potential excesses and limited the prize fund before banning them altogether. However, greyhound racing had taken off by this time and achieved full tote and TAB status in 1982. In 1996 many other sports were introduced at the TAB, and the racing channel Trackside was launched in 1992.
Lotteries
Lotteries have always been popular in New Zealand. The first one took place from London in 1839 and offered the prize of an unseen plot of Land in Wellington. However, there was a stigma attached to the use of the word lottery as it was associated with gambling. Therefore, they were set up as ‘Art Unions’. While initially, they may have offered works of art as prizes, the first national art union in 1915 offered a golden nugget as a first prize. The profits from the lottery went to assist wounded servicemen.
In the early 1980s, $18 million was raised for arts, sports, recreation, welfare, community, and medical projects through Golden Kiwi lotteries which offered a $500,000 prize. There was a move to create a new National Lottery, but the Prime Minister, Robert Muldoon, opposed it, concerned it would negatively impact the racing industry. However, after a change of Government, a bill was brought before Parliament. In 1987 there was a vote of 47 to 20 in favour of creating Lotto. The New Zealand Lotteries Commission was put in charge of running it.
Lotto was a success, and crowds packed outlets selling tickets. The first draw had gross receipts of over $2 million. Within six weeks, a million New Zealanders were playing, and sales exceeded $5 million weekly. After that, interest in the Golden Kiwi lottery declined, and it was closed down in 1989.
Relaxation of gambling laws
The Labour government of the late 1980s had an ethos of deregulation, which led to a dramatic expansion in legalised gambling in New Zealand. Electronic gaming machines, affectionately known as pokies, were permitted in clubs and hotels. In 1989 a law was passed to allow for the introduction of land-based casinos. The first one opened in Christchurch in November 1994. Auckland’s Sky City casino threw open its doors in January 1996, and smaller ones opened in Hamilton, Dunedin, and Queenstown. The Gambling Commission, an independent statutory body, handles license applications.
What are the regulations today?
Gambling in New Zealand is now regulated by two acts.
First, The Racing Act 2003 created the New Zealand Racing Board to oversee thoroughbred, harness and greyhound racing. It also runs the TAB, the sole provider of betting on racing and sport in New Zealand.
Secondly, The Gambling Act 2003 regulates gaming machines, casinos, The New Zealand Lotteries Commission, and all other gambling.
The acts were set out to ensure all gambling was fair and honest, to ensure profits benefited the community and to minimise and prevent gambling harms.
The Gambling Acts enshrined in law that a proportion of the gambling profits must be used for good causes. At least 37.12% of net profits from gaming machines in pubs and clubs must benefit the community. Casinos distribute at least 2.5% of their net profits. Profits from sports betting are used to support grassroots and professional development in sports such as cycling and soccer, to name but two.
