Development Perspectives of the New Zealand Gambling Industry
The New Zealand gambling industry has witnessed a lot of growth over the years and despite the legal frameworks with gray areas, this sector has thrived. There are a lot of gambling prospects in this country that present opportunities for game developers.
How are these prospects going to be handled and how does the future of this industry look? Here are the development perspectives of the New Zealand gambling industry.
Revenue generated by gambling
The gambling industry in New Zealand has generated a lot of revenue throughout the past year. Statistics reveal that the revenue generated by gambling in this country amounts to each person in the country spending $648 in wagers.
The total amount of cash revenue collected was calculated to be a total of $2.4 billion. That was slightly lower than the previous year once inflation and population growth were taken into consideration.
About $895 million was spent on pokies alone and the government was concerned over this fact because of the dangers imposed by this form of gambling. Whereas, $350 million was wagered in sports and racing events. Some of the revenue was donated to charities and other non-profit organizations.
Growth of the gambling industry
Statistics released last year indicate steady growth that ranged between 1.1% and 3.6% depending on the sub-sector but an industry purported to be thriving was the online gambling sector.
The number of online gambling sites at icasinoreviews.info that are available in New Zealand continues to grow with each year. It is hard to specifically point out the exact growth of this sub-sector in gambling because it’s not sanctioned by the government.
Therefore, it is hard to set key performance indicators regarding the industry. If the government were to legalize and monitor online gambling, it would be much easier to track the growth. Although that is true, the legalized sectors manifest positive growth even when under economic turmoil.
Online gambling bottleneck
The sub-sector of online gambling in New Zealand is facing a lot of bottlenecks that prohibit growth in the country. The government restricts any digital form of gambling and only sanctions walk-in land casinos. That affects the revenue generated by the government and other stakeholders who might potentially benefit from online gambling.
To gamble at an online casino, NZ citizens should choose options abroad that are approved by some regulatory board. There are many issues caused by that because some people do not trust offshore sites so they cannot gamble freely. If those people face stereotypes such as gender discrimination at casinos, there is an unmet demand.
The in-country restrictions can potentially cause further harm to the economy if they persist. Considering the number of people preferring offshore sites that have no benefit to the government or citizens instead of walk-in casinos sanctioned by the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA).
Offshore gambling sites in New Zealand
New Zealand citizens can currently only wager and place bets on international online casinos. There are no NZ online casino sites developed in-country that the population can use to wager and gamble. Therefore, to be involved in online gambling for real money, NZ citizens look for trustworthy offshore sites that meet their requirements.
Hopefully, soon, this will change because the DIA is reviewing the regulations governing online gambling. The DIA has also voiced their concerns about the security of the citizens of NZ on offshore gambling sites.
That might be the trigger for the government to ease restrictions facing this industry. The government cannot even calculate the money spent by NZ citizens and that is concerning. To address these concerns, the government would have to ease restrictions facing online gambling sites.
The support of government
Since the gambling games NZ offers benefit the population by contributing to community organizations, the government gets concerned when the revenue is affected. As a result, the previous government has pledged to support communities that were impacted by the decrease in the revenue made by the gambling industry.
Last year, $750 million that was taken from the $2.4 billion went back to the community. The money helped improve health infrastructure and the overall healthcare system as well as sports initiatives. Other activities include supporting education initiatives and so forth.
All of these innocent parties are affected by the revenue the government is losing. As it is right now, the most sustainable option is for the government to ease online gambling restrictions.
Sports betting
Although there are quite a few real money casino New Zealand has to offer, some prefer betting on sporting events taking place within the country or globally. Online sportsbooks are strictly prohibited and the only form of sports betting you can participate in is wagering live at the event.
The people in NZ are allowed to bet on various sports events including horse racing live at the tracks. Although that is true, the loophole of allowing the people to wager on offshore gambling sites presents another form of weakness that the government has to deal with.
Gamblers can place wagers on international sportsbooks that are available online in many forms. The results can be fewer people gambling live at the event and using an online sportsbook. Hopefully, the reforms the DIA wants to conduct will address this issue to benefit local businesses.
Regulations that could improve the overall industry
If the government were to review its outlook on online gambling sites with real money, some key improvements would be made to the industry. The revenue made from New Zealand-developed sites would go a long way into contributing to communities and the government.
Legalizing real money online casino NZ can help easily regulate trustworthy and untrustworthy sites easier. There would be accountability, resulting in a safer and more secure environment for New Zealand gamblers.
Also, the government would be able to monitor and track the income made by the industry. That would contribute to more accurate and specific statistics.
Also, the government would not have to look for alternate funding methods to subset the loss of money made from criminalizing homegrown sites. Including online sportsbooks in their review of the current laws could also go a long way in ensuring that there’s enough revenue streaming into in-country companies.
The bottom line
The legalization of in-country online gambling sites promises quite some positive benefits to the country and its citizens.
All the revenue streaming out to international companies and the customers they are losing to online gambling could be retained within the country. Undoubtedly, that will bring a lot of benefits to the government, community initiatives, and local entrepreneurs involved with the online industry.
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