New Zealand confirms 15 online casino licences available

[Webzcas]

Online gambling in New Zealand is set to be regulated by 2026, with their Internal Affairs Minister announcing that there will be up to 15 licenses up for grabs for operators.

Operators who have shown an interest, include the likes of bet365 and Betway.

New Zealand is set to introduce regulation for online casinos which was first announced in July. The government has established a framework for online casino regulation aimed at harm reduction, enhanced tax collection efficiency, and strengthening consumer safeguards.

The regulatory timeline sets key milestones, with legislation for a licensing system planned for 2025. The government will introduce the bill in April 2025, targeting enactment by year-end. February 2, 2026 marks the start of vetting and auctions, with licensed operations commencing in April 2026.

 

[conker]

Hopefully, they apply a more sensible approach than their neighbours.

Depends how much of a bricks-and-mortar monopoly they have to protect and the propensity to gamble by the New Zealand residents I guess.

 

[Avernite]

I'd be surprised if Entain doesn't go for it.

It will be also interesting to see who else gets in. Knowing how abysmal and outdated we are on gambling I don't have much hope tbh.

 

[mulven]

Ellipse entertainment targets Canadians and New Zealanders pretty heavily but they are too small fry to go for it imo, I bet no one on this forum has ever heard of that group.

 

[Avernite]

Ellipse entertainment targets Canadians and New Zealanders pretty heavily but they are too small fry to go for it imo, I bet no one on this forum has ever heard of that group.

Ellipse? Hell they can't be doing a good job because I'm in NZ and have never heard of them.

 

[mulven]

Ellipse? Hell they can't be doing a good job because I'm in NZ and have never heard of them.

I won't gush about them too much as that would be shilling but they pay out five figures without blinking an eye (simple id and poa). Only bonus term is x20d+b wager, Main downside is they only really have readyplaygaming, which is about 95% rtp but one of their sites has pragmatics/microgaming.

They should pay some better marketing people

Maybe I should message them and say they should pay Gentoo for a review spot