The Department of Internal Affairs

Department of Internal Affairs | Te Tari Taiwhenua

Building a safe, prosperous and respected nation



 

Online Gambling Regulatory Implementation 

Overview

The New Zealand Government is introducing new legislation to regulate online casino gambling to ensure a safe, fair and well-controlled online gambling environment. Online casino gambling is not new in New Zealand. Every day New Zealanders gamble on thousands of offshore gambling websites. Regulating this sector will protect consumers, minimise gambling harm, limit opportunities for crime and dishonesty, and provide regulatory oversight of online gambling providers operating in New Zealand.

A diagram that shows the two parallel processes of the Online Gambling Implementation programme: Legislation development (run by DIA Policy) and implementation (run by the OGI team). The Policy stream has three steps: legislation development, select committee engagement, and legislation enacted. The OGI stream has 6 steps: international collaboration, key stakeholder engagement, licensing applications open, application assessment, licenses issues, and compliance and monitoring. The first of the OGI steps (International Collaboration) starts in between the first and second Policy steps. The Policy stream concludes with the legislation enacted before the OGI stream opens licensing applications.

The implementation of this system is a two-phase process running in parallel, involving legislation development and implementation, with distinct responsibilities.

Legislation Development

The legislation development is led by the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) Policy team. They are responsible for developing the legislative framework that will govern online gambling in New Zealand.

This process involves:

  • Drafting the Online Gambling Bill: Setting the legal foundation for how online gambling will be regulated.
  • Public and stakeholder consultation: Engaging with industry, public health experts and community stakeholders to shape the legislation.
  • Select Committee process: Allowing public submissions to refine the Bill before it becomes law.
  • Defining Regulatory Objectives: Ensuring consumer protection, responsible gambling measures and industry integrity.

Once the legislation is finalised and passed by Parliament, the focus shifts to implementation and preparing for operations.

Implementation of the regulatory system

While the legislation development is underway, the Online Gambling implementation (OGI) team will be engaging with international regulators and equivalent systems to shape operational design. Once the legislation is in place, the OGI team will lead the practical rollout of the new regulatory system. This will focus on:

  • Designing the licensing system: Establishing processes for operators to apply for and maintain a New Zealand online gambling licence.
  • Building regulatory infrastructure: Developing the digital systems and compliance frameworks to monitor licensed operators.
  • Launching the licensing process: Opening applications and assessing applicants.
  • Enforcing compliance and consumer protections: Setting up mechanisms to monitor operator behaviour, handle complaints, and address non-compliance.
  • Public education and awareness: Ensuring the public understands the risks associated with gambling and the benefits of using licensed platforms.

This approach will form a robust and well informed legislative framework, and an implementation process that produces effective consumer protection, responsible gambling and regulatory compliance.

Key announcements

The latest announcements about the online casino gambling regulations:

Key features of the new system

There are three key features of the new regulatory system to support a safer online gambling environment:

  • Facilitate a safer and compliant regulated online gambling market.
  • Prevent and minimise online gambling harm.
  • Limit opportunities for crime and dishonesty and provide protections within the regulated online gambling market.

Stay informed

If you’re interested in following our journey as we develop and implement the new online casino gambling regulatory system you can register your interest.

Register your interest to receive updates and notifications (Office forms)

OGI engagement approach

The Department is committed to transparent, informed and constructive engagement. Our engagement approach is designed to gather insights, lessons learned and best practices to support the implementation of New Zealand’s online gambling regulatory regime.

Principles of our engagement

  • Transparent and open communication.
  • Engagement will be focused on gathering and sharing information.
  • All discussions will be conducted in good faith, with a focus on fact-finding and operational development.
  • All engagement will be impartial and fair.
  • DIA will provide regular updates on key regulatory milestones to maintain transparency.

Confidentiality and information sharing

  • Information shared during engagement will be treated with confidentiality in line with New Zealand’s public sector standards.
  • DIA may publicly share aggregated insights to ensure transparency but will not disclose commercially sensitive information or proprietary information.
  • Any data or reports shared by stakeholders should align with applicable privacy and confidentiality laws.

How you can engage

Public

The public will be able to engage on the Online Gambling Legislation through the Select Committee process. We anticipate this to occur mid-2025.

Register your interest to receive updates and notifications (Office forms), including when the Select Committee process starts.

Gambling industry, including potential licence applicants

You can ask us a question, which we will publicly answer on this page to ensure transparency and access to information by all interested parties. We aim to batch publishing answers to your questions every two weeks.

Ask us a question (Office forms)

Questions and answers

Updated 6 May 2025

1. What are the indicative dates of the two-phased Implementation Programme?

The legislation is expected to be enacted in early 2026. Those who have registered their interest will receive the latest updates on any key announcements about timeframes, including when the Select Committee process starts (which includes formal public consultation on the Bill). To receive these updates, please register your interest (Office forms)

2. Are online casinos in New Zealand legal or illegal?

Online casinos based in New Zealand are illegal, however it is legal for New Zealanders to gamble on offshore online casino websites. Online casino gambling is currently an unregulated activity and there are no guarantees of player safety. It is also illegal to advertise offshore online casino gambling in New Zealand under section 16 of the Gambling Act. Please see Factsheet #27 (PDF, 179KB), which explains the prohibition in more detail. 

The Department of Internal Affairs is developing the online casino gambling legislation and building the new regulatory system, with the intention of channelling customers towards up to fifteen licensed platforms who must meet a range of regulatory requirements. DIA will regulate the new system where it will be illegal for unlicensed operators to operate or advertise in New Zealand.  

3. Can you please explain why the DIA hasn’t informed the public on their website which overseas online casino websites are paying fees to NZ? Most people would rather support those types of companies.

While there are some offshore online casino operators who are registered for GST and must pay a gambling duty to Inland Revenue, online casino gambling is an unregulated and unlicensed activity in New Zealand. For more information on offshore gambling duty please visit: Offshore gambling duty (IRD website) 

Until the regulatory system is implemented, and licenses are awarded to operators who meet a range of regulatory requirements, the Department of Internal Affairs is unable to channel players towards unregulated online casino websites. For now, the advertisement of any offshore casino website is prohibited under section 16 of the Gambling Act.  

 

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