The bill would licence 15 online casinos in New Zealand and community groups fear for their funding, writes Lyric Waiwiri-Smith in today’s extract from The Bulletin.

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To regulate somewhat or not at all

Internal affairs minister Brooke van Velden has told Newsroom her Online Casino Gambling Bill will set up “guardrails” in an otherwise unregulated (and largely offshore) industry. By allowing the licensing of 15 online casinos to advertise in New Zealand for the first time, the government hopes to establish a more regulated gambling market. 

At the bill’s first reading in July, the Greens broke ranks with the left-bloc to vote in favour of the bill, with caveats. The Green Party’s internal affairs spokesperson Benjamin Doyle told RNZ’s Russell Palmer the bill was a “small step” towards harm reduction, and advancing it to the select committee would allow for community leaders to give their advice on amendments. 

Former Labour racing minister Kieran McAnulty pushed for a ban on offshore betting in 2023. McAnulty’s amendment to the Racing Act was only just passed in July, with further amendments from current racing minister Winston Peters preventing geo-blocking for online bookmakers. 

Gambling harm’s uneven hand

The Department of Internal Affairs has already cracked down on influencers promoting online gambling through social media, with van Velden telling Te Ao Māori New’s Māni Dunlop that penalties could range from $10,000-30,000. As Dunlop reports, there’s particular concern around the targeting of Māori audiences, particularly through Māori influencers.

Aotearoa’s Asian population is also vulnerable to gambling harm. The governance and administration committee heard from Asian Family Services’ Kelly Feng that Asian communities face significant culture shame, stigma and secrecy with gambling addictions. Asians are nearly 10 times more likely to be affected by gambling harm than “mainstream New Zealanders,” as Feng has previously told RNZ.

The tight partnership between gambling and sports

Class 4 distributors (like pubs with pokie machines) must return at least 40% of their profit to the community through funding grants under the Gambling Act 2003. The closest clause the new bill has to this is a requirement for operators to contribute 1.24% of their profits towards a problem gambling levy which has failed to show a reduction in gambling harm, as reported by RNZ. One of the bill’s most vocal opponents, former New Zealand Cricket boss Martin Sneddon, told Stuff’s Steve Kilgallon last month that while the bill is “intended to do the right thing”, there is “one glaring omission, and that is the failure to protect future community funding.”

That funding looks like $186m received through the pokies for local sports alone, and local sporting bodies fear a local online gambling industry will simply entice punters away from the pokies, therefore reducing that community funding. But van Velden is adamant that legalising advertising for online gambling won’t lead to less punters at the pokies. 

Helpfully, Dunedin City Council has been down this road before: in 2013, the council heard a report that profits from the pokies had dropped by over $1m from 2007 to 2012, according to the Otago Daily Times. A potential cause? Those damn online pokies.

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