nz offshore sites - dec 1 or dec 31?? whats actually happening

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Kiwivin

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chers everyone! ok so i''ve read three different things this week. one site says offshore casinos are banned from dec 1, another says you've got till dec 31, and some other one reckons nothing changes for players until june 2027. i mostly play pokies on a couple of the big ones. do i need to get my money off before december or they'll just shut the account with whatever's sitting in it?

anyone actually know or are we all guessing
 
Dec 31 is wrong, and so is the June 2027 reading. Here is actual DIA timeline:
1 December 2026 providers that haven't applied for a licence must stop offering online casino gambling in New Zealand.
Providers with an application under way can keep operating until it's decided. If it's declined, they have to leave.
Licences are expected from early 2027.
1 June 2027 is when the exemption from the advertising ban ends. It has nothing to do with players.

Nothing I've read in the Act makes it an offence for you to play. On balances, the DIA material says nothing at all, so I wouldn't assume a site that's leaving will handle it gracefully.
 
read the minimum standards back in september cos i was sick of not knowing. if your site does end up licensed its going to feel completly differnt mate. 2.5 sec gap between rounds and autoplay cant skip it, no running two pokies at once, and if you set a limit and want it raised you wait 24 hrs
missus walked in while i was reading it and asked why im studying gambling law on a tuesday night. fair question tbh
 
Aussies have had it worse for years. If your site leaves, ++ for bitstarz, works fine with VPN and they're around since 2014, not some 1-day casino.
 
Kiwivin said:
so who actually applied?
Click to expand...
The eleven that won the right to apply, as DIA listed them on 13 October:
Baytree Interactive (Betway)
Christchurch Online NZ
One Casino
Playvia Gaming (Entain)
Rock Swift Group
Rush Entertainment
Skill On Net
SkyCity NZ Online NO1
SkyCity NZ Online NO2
Stake
TAB New Zealand

15 rights between them, one brand per licence, no more than three per entity. A right to apply isn't a licence.

On the VPN suggestion: the law doesn't stop you playing, so a VPN isn't hiding you from anything. All it gets around is a site's own geo-block, and that's between you and the site.
 
A word of caution on checking that list: those are company names, not brands. Even where the parent is obvious, Betway holds three rights and Entain's Playvia two, and I haven't seen anything saying which brands will go forward. For Rock Swift Group or Rush Entertainment I couldn't tell you the brands at all. A player can't reliably tell from that list whether their site is covered. The register of licensed brands only appears once licences are actually granted.

The 2.5-second rule @NeiLsBet mentioned is what we've had on online slots since 2021, although ours applies to slots only. You stop noticing it after a week or so.
 
soarkiwi said:
bonuses gonna be dead too like the uk lol
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They aren't dead here. Wagering on UK casino bonuses has been capped at 10x since January, which if anything made them easier to clear. Whether New Zealand does anything similar I don't know. I haven't seen it in anything that's been published.
 
sweden licensed in 2019. plenty still play unlicensed seven years later. 15 licences for a whole country is very few
 
cheers, i've watched this from the other side. ontario went the opposite way in 2022, open licensing, dozens of brands live
pros of the kiwi model: fewer sites to police, every licensed brand on one register, the same tools on all of them
cons: 15 licences total is thinner than a toque in july, and with betway and entain sitting on a big chunk of the rights, bonuses won't get much competition
can't call it yet. depends what the 11 actually put on the register
 
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