New Zealand: Greens vote in support of online casino bill
The Green Party of Aotearoa has voted with the nation’s coalition in support of the new gambling bill.
Key points:
– New Zealand’s Green Party has voted in support of the nation’s online casino bill
– The bill was presented to the NZ Parliament, with Labour voting in opposition
– The Greens have called for an advertising ban on online casino advertising in the soon-to-be regulated market
New Zealand’s Green Party has voted alongside the nation’s current coalition Government in support of a new casino bill that will allow companies to become operational in the nation as soon as April 2026.
Indeed, as part of the first reading vote in New Zealand’s Parliament today, the Green Party has shifted away from its opposition party by voting in support of the online casino bill. Overall, the first reading saw the bill pass its conscience vote 83 to 39 in parliament, with the Labour Party and Te Pati Maori voting against the bill.
The Green Party, however, has voted unanimously in support of the bill, which will allow for 15 licensed operators to run online casinos in the market – so long as they prove effective age-verification and harm prevention processes as part of their licence application.
Speaking on this latest update, Green Party Internal Affairs Minister Benjamin Doyle said: “We always want to support movements towards harm reduction. With online gambling, it’s totally unregulated at the moment, and we see this as a very small step in the right direction to enact harm reduction techniques.
“It’s definitely not far enough, but we believe that going to select committee to hear from experts, community, people with lived experience of online gambling harm and advocacy groups may be able to help us to inform changes and amendments and improvements to this legislation that will actually enact harm reduction.”
Good to know: The Green Party has also called for complete transparency regarding the distribution of problem gambling funds, alongside an iGaming advertising ban
This latest update falls in the wake of a flurry of recent regulatory activity in New Zealand, as the nation gears up for the opening of its iGaming landscape.
Last month saw the unveiling of a new nationwide gambling harm prevention strategy, alongside the posting of the nation’s online casino licensing process for operator input and the introduction of a new Racing Act that banned offshore sports betting operators of all kinds.
Further, New Zealand’s Minister of Internal Affairs officially introduced the new online casino gambling bill to the House of Representatives in early July.
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