There's some new Government measures to regulate online gambling operators.
Only 15 operators will be granted licenses - which will include mandatory age verification.
Ads targeting children will be banned and operators will be limited to casino games, not sports betting or lotteries.
Breaches could result in $5 million dollar fines.
Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says things need tightening up.
"At the moment, anybody can go online and play thousands of different regulated games in New Zealand. It is a bit of a wild west."
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now onto something else altogether, and by the way, happy
with your thoughts on it. Happy to hear what's happened today.
The government's writing up rules for online casino operators. These
guys are currently unregulated in the country. Any company offering
online gambling in New Zealand will have to have a license,
and those who operate without one could be punished with
a fine of up to five million dollars. There are
also the usual age restrictions in play and so on.
(00:20):
Brook van Walden is the Internal affairsman to stand with us. Now,
Hey Brook, Hey, Heather, Now, what are you trying to do.
Are you trying to regulate existing online gamblers who are
overseas or are you trying to create a framework to
regulate online gamblers based here in New Zealand who might
start up.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Oh well, we're trying to do a little bit of both.
So at the moment it's a bit of a wild
West out there with online casino gambling. There's around a
couple of thousand online platforms that kiwis could go to
at any time. They can't advertise in New Zealand. But
the important thing here is all of that money that's
generated as going overseas, so they're getting the benefits, but
(00:58):
we're getting all the risks, all the harm So what
we're doing is regulating that market and saying, look, we
do want to have harmonimization standards so that there might
be up to fifteen licensed operators that can play in
New Zealand. But if you are one of those New
Zealanders who does want to play, you actually know that
these are safe services to be using. You can get
(01:19):
your money and your withdrawals. We know that the advertising
that they'll be using will be safe for children. But importantly,
we are one of the last countries in the OECD
to be regulating this type of market, so we seem
to be at the moment not getting any of the
tax benefit, but just getting all the risk of problem gambling.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
Why are you only going for fifteen licenses.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Well, what we're doing here is striking a reasonable balance
between having a competitive market where it's not just one
or two or a monopoly. So we have competition in
the market, but we're also restricting it enough so that
when we do have advertising and we have a regulator
looking after, this market not so overwhelming for the regulator
(02:02):
that it just hundreds and hundreds, we'd end up with
one of the largest regulators in the country and I
don't think that's good for New Zealand.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Now, how are you going to get Have you come
up with a smart way to figure out whether someone
is old enough to be gambling?
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Well, under our current gambling laws, there's a range of
different ages and one of the important things here is
that we're aligning with the age of eighteen, which is
pretty standard.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
How do you go how do these guys operating the
site know that I am actually over eighteen?
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Well, that'll be what the regulator will be figuring out.
When you've got these people going for their license or
bidding to get one of the licenses to be a
provider in New Zealand, they'll need to work with DEA
before they get that license to ensure that they have
age verification system that DIA is happy with. But it's
not something new. It's something that casino games currently already
(03:03):
do and is quite commonly used across.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
The rest of the old casino games.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Casino games are random number generated games that are for
a profit, so very different for you know, if you're
just sitting at home, you know, with your own fake
little money account playing with your friends. This is actually
to derive a profit.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
And how do casino games verify you age?
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Well, at the moment, anyone who walks into a casino.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Online, it's not an online thing. This is actually going
into a casino.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Well at the moment, other countries have age verification for
online games and de i A has been working.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
And how do they do it? How do they do it? Brook?
Speaker 2 (03:52):
I don't think anyone would expect me to be But
what I do know is that the systems around the
world that.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Do allow this to This is funder me. Intel to
this working, isn't It is fundamental to it working that
we know that the people who are actually gambling are
old enough to be gambling. So you can't sort of
like wave this one through without knowing, right, You're going
to have to nut this one out, aren't you.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
No. I think what's really important here is at the moment,
anybody can go online play thousands of different regulated games
in New Zealand. It is a bit of a wild West.
We're saying, Look, if you want to be one of
these reputable licensed operators, there'll be fifteen or up to
fifteen in New Zealand. Yeah, you need to have an
age verification system that DIA as the regulator, believes is
(04:35):
accurate and will actually protect children from not going on
to those websites. If they can't share the IA of that, yeah,
they won't get a license. Okay, that's much better than
the current system that we are operating under now.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Totally. I just I'm slightly I'm starting to get frustrated
by us not knowing the details of these kinds of things,
but I get that we've got a way to go.
So anyway, we'll see what they come up with.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Brook.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Thank you, I appreciate it. Brook, then Velden Internal Fees Minister.
For more from hither Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to
news talks it'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.
Now onto something else altogether, and by the way, happy
with your thoughts on it. Happy to hear what's happened today.
The government's writing up rules for online casino operators. These
guys are currently unregulated in the country. Any company offering
online gambling in New Zealand will have to have a license,
and those who operate without one could be punished with
a fine of up to five million dollars. There are
also the usual age restrictions in play and so on.
(00:20):
Brook van Walden is the Internal affairsman to stand with us. Now,
Hey Brook, Hey, Heather, Now, what are you trying to do.
Are you trying to regulate existing online gamblers who are
overseas or are you trying to create a framework to
regulate online gamblers based here in New Zealand who might
start up.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Oh well, we're trying to do a little bit of both.
So at the moment it's a bit of a wild
West out there with online casino gambling. There's around a
couple of thousand online platforms that kiwis could go to
at any time. They can't advertise in New Zealand. But
the important thing here is all of that money that's
generated as going overseas, so they're getting the benefits, but
(00:58):
we're getting all the risks, all the harm So what
we're doing is regulating that market and saying, look, we
do want to have harmonimization standards so that there might
be up to fifteen licensed operators that can play in
New Zealand. But if you are one of those New
Zealanders who does want to play, you actually know that
these are safe services to be using. You can get
(01:19):
your money and your withdrawals. We know that the advertising
that they'll be using will be safe for children. But importantly,
we are one of the last countries in the OECD
to be regulating this type of market, so we seem
to be at the moment not getting any of the
tax benefit, but just getting all the risk of problem gambling.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
Why are you only going for fifteen licenses.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Well, what we're doing here is striking a reasonable balance
between having a competitive market where it's not just one
or two or a monopoly. So we have competition in
the market, but we're also restricting it enough so that
when we do have advertising and we have a regulator
looking after, this market not so overwhelming for the regulator
(02:02):
that it just hundreds and hundreds, we'd end up with
one of the largest regulators in the country and I
don't think that's good for New Zealand.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Now, how are you going to get Have you come
up with a smart way to figure out whether someone
is old enough to be gambling?
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Well, under our current gambling laws, there's a range of
different ages and one of the important things here is
that we're aligning with the age of eighteen, which is
pretty standard.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
How do you go how do these guys operating the
site know that I am actually over eighteen?
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Well, that'll be what the regulator will be figuring out.
When you've got these people going for their license or
bidding to get one of the licenses to be a
provider in New Zealand, they'll need to work with DEA
before they get that license to ensure that they have
age verification system that DIA is happy with. But it's
not something new. It's something that casino games currently already
(03:03):
do and is quite commonly used across.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
The rest of the old casino games.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Casino games are random number generated games that are for
a profit, so very different for you know, if you're
just sitting at home, you know, with your own fake
little money account playing with your friends. This is actually
to derive a profit.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
And how do casino games verify you age?
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Well, at the moment, anyone who walks into a casino.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Online, it's not an online thing. This is actually going
into a casino.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Well at the moment, other countries have age verification for
online games and de i A has been working.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
And how do they do it? How do they do it? Brook?
Speaker 2 (03:52):
I don't think anyone would expect me to be But
what I do know is that the systems around the
world that.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Do allow this to This is funder me. Intel to
this working, isn't It is fundamental to it working that
we know that the people who are actually gambling are
old enough to be gambling. So you can't sort of
like wave this one through without knowing, right, You're going
to have to nut this one out, aren't you.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
No. I think what's really important here is at the moment,
anybody can go online play thousands of different regulated games
in New Zealand. It is a bit of a wild West.
We're saying, Look, if you want to be one of
these reputable licensed operators, there'll be fifteen or up to
fifteen in New Zealand. Yeah, you need to have an
age verification system that DIA as the regulator, believes is
(04:35):
accurate and will actually protect children from not going on
to those websites. If they can't share the IA of that, yeah,
they won't get a license. Okay, that's much better than
the current system that we are operating under now.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Totally. I just I'm slightly I'm starting to get frustrated
by us not knowing the details of these kinds of things,
but I get that we've got a way to go.
So anyway, we'll see what they come up with.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Brook.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Thank you, I appreciate it. Brook, then Velden Internal Fees Minister.
For more from hither Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to
news talks it'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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