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Gambling

The Department of Internal Affairs casino and non-casino gaming services help keep gambling in New Zealand fair and honest. The Gaming Compliance Office audits and investigates non-casino gaming activities, licenses all non-casino gaming and issues certificates of approval for casino employees. The Casino Inspectorate regulates all casino gaming activities.

You can find out here about:


Overview

The community is our primary stakeholder group. Community interests include community groups for whom gambling raises funds, gamblers, and organizations that provide gambling services and research into the social effects of gambling.

The rules for gambling - the legislation and license conditions - focus on ensuring that the community benefits from the proceeds of gambling, and that the harm that gambling can cause is minimised. The primary piece of legislation that regulates gambling is the Gambling Act 2003.

The purpose of the Gambling Act is to:

  • Control the growth of gambling
  • Prevent and minimise the harm caused by gambling including problem gambling
  • Authorise some gambling and prohibit the rest
  • Facilitate responsible gambling
  • Ensure the fairness and integrity of games
  • Limit opportunities for crime and dishonesty associated with gambling
  • Ensure that money from gambling benefits the community
  • Facilitate community involvement in decisions about the provision of gambling

Strategic Approach to Gambling

This document is about how the Department of Internal Affairs is providing leadership and implementing a strategic approach to the regulation of gambling.


Regulatory Agency Roles

Several regulatory agencies are responsible for different aspects of the legislation. The primary agencies and responsibilities are:

The Department of Internal Affairs

  • Administers gambling legislation
  • Licenses gambling activities (except for casino gambling)
  • Ensures compliance with the legislation
  • Provides public information and education
The Ministry of Health The Gambling Commission
  • Considers and determine applications for casino operators’ licenses and the renewal of casino venue licenses
  • Approves agreements and changes to agreements between casino operators and casino venue license holders
  • Considers and deals with complaints about the way the Department of Internal Affairs has handled complaints in relation to Class 4 gambling
  • Specifies, varies and revokes casino license conditions
  • Advises Ministers and facilitates consultation on the setting of the problem gambling levy
  • Consider and determine appeals against regulatory and licensing decisions made by the Department of Internal Affairs

Current Law


Previous Law

  • Gaming and Lotteries Act 1977 and subsequent amendments
  • Gaming and Lotteries (Licence Fees) Regulations 1992
  • Gaming and Lotteries Prizes Notice 1993
  • Gaming and Lotteries (Problem Gambling Levy) Regulations 1998
  • Casino Control Act 1990 (and subsequent amendments)
  • Casino Control (Moratorium) Amendment Act 1997
  • Casino Control (Moratorium) Amendment Act 2000
  • Casino Control (Applications and Hours) Regulations 1991
  • Casino Control (Certificates of Approval and Warrants) Regulations 1994

Further Information

Further general information is available from the Gambling Act 2003 Fact Sheets.

See also:


Note: For electronic (PDF) versions of gambling licence applications and other gambling forms go to our Forms page. If you require a hard copy of any of these forms please contact the Gaming Compliance Unit.


New Zealand Gambling Conference 2009

Update (03.02.09)

The Department has decided to shelve plans for the New Zealand Gambling Conference 2009. This decision was not taken lightly. One of the reasons related to the cost of the conference. While the Department expected to recover the costs through registrations we also needed to consider the cost impact on prospective participants. It was expected that many of the participants would be from the gambling / philanthropic area, either distributors or recipients of charitable funding.

It is unreasonable to expect such people or organisations to pay to attend such a two-day conference in the current economic climate. The worldwide economic downturn has seen trust funds suffer meaning there is less money for distribution to community purposes. Trusts' costs also affect the amount of money available for distribution and the law requires gaming machine societies to minimise costs and maximise return to the community.

The Department decided in early 2008 to hold the conference. The aim was to gauge progress towards getting the best outcomes from gambling five years after the Gambling Act 2003 came into force. With the recent change of Government, the Department's future work programme relating to gambling is still being determined and a broadly-based conference is not appropriate at present.

The Department will agree on a work programme with the Minister and give further consideration to engaging with the various groups that have an interest in the gambling sector. Keith Manch would like to personally thank all those who agreed to participate in this conference and hopes that they will be willing to contribute at any future forums the Department holds.

Wiki purpose revised

The wiki will remain "open" allowing those with an interest in gambling in New Zealand an opportunity to share information about issues related to the costs and benefits of gambling, the way the community is engaged with gambling issues, and how integrity, harm and crime issues related to gambling are addressed. Information that you put on this wiki will be used to help the Department to assess how well the gambling objectives are being met generally. Access the wiki here: http://nzgamblingconference2009.wikispaces.com/


*This document is in Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) format. You need to have the Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer. You can download a free version from the Adobe site.

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Last updated: 08/10/2009