New Zealand Government publishes iGaming legislation plans

The New Zealand Government has launched initial legislative planning to ensure a healthy and safe environment for online bettors.

The legislation will be further developed by two teams, the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) Policy team and the Online Gambling Implementation (OGI) team.

Both have been earmarked as the parties responsible for designing the key frameworks that will define the future of online and iGaming in the country.

As we reported in April 2025, New Zealand was looking into a new legislative overhaul, spearheaded by the efforts of Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden.

Van Velden said at the time (April 2025), “My goal is not to increase the amount of gambling that is happening online, but to enable New Zealanders who wish to play casino games online to do so more safely than they can do today.”

This most recent statement echoes Minister Van Velden’s comments. It states there are three key features of this new system. It aims to “facilitate a safer and compliant regulated online gambling market. Prevent and minimise online gambling harm and limit opportunities for crime and dishonesty, and provide protections within the regulated online gambling market.”

According to the DIA of New Zealand, a host of gamblers in the nation are using “offshore” means to stake and bet online. These are mostly conducted through legal means of account creation, but the DIA stressed there could be black market means or loopholes in the security networks.

“Online casinos based in New Zealand are illegal; however, it is legal for New Zealanders to gamble on offshore online casino websites,” says the release.

With the nation losing taxable revenue to these other illegal means, there comes the risk, says the DIA, that these gamblers could be vulnerable to harm. This can be financially or through compromised data that some black marketeers can weaponize to make a profit.

Gambling offshore is “an unregulated activity, and there are no guarantees of player safety. It is also illegal to advertise offshore online casino gambling in New Zealand,” said the DIA.

Featured image: Pixlr AI-generated.

The post New Zealand Government publishes iGaming legislation plans appeared first on ReadWrite.