Online Casinos

Online Casino Gambling in New Zealand

Before we’ll tell you about the peculiarities of online gambling in this country, let us talk about New Zealand gambling in general first for you to grasp the whole picture. Overall, it’s legal to gamble in the country. Gambling in New Zealand is regulated by the Department of Internal Affairs. Most of gambling houses in the country are owned by SKYCITY Entertainment Group.

You must be aware already that New Zealanders are deeply into gambling. According to our statistical research, as many as 80%, which is about 3.6 million of locals, have been involved in various forms of gambling. According to the official statistical data, in 2008, New Zealand gamblers spent over $NZ 2.034 billion ($NZ 480 per capita) on gambling, which is quite a drastic loss. Almost the same sum of money was spent on Kiwis’ gambling abroad, specifically over NZ $2 billion. Overall, since 2004, gambling expenditure has dropped about 19%, yet Kiwis’ spendings on lotto games has increased as impressively as by 22% over the same period of time.

You might wonder what’s up with land based gambling in the country. Just for your info, there are only 6 land based gambling houses in New Zealand that have operated since 1994. Look for the following NZ casinos if you’re interested in land based gambling: Dunedin Casino, Christchurch Casino, SKYCITY Hamilton, SKYCITY Queenstown, SkyCity Auckland, and SKYCITY Wharf Casino.

So, let’s learn the gambling history in NZ in order to better view the entire picture. The first documented notices of gambling in the country were dated 1830s when Kiwis (New Zealand people) were deep into betting on horse racing, which was quite popular at that time. This hobby was recognized as destructive and pernicious by the government, so it had been forbidden for quite a long time.

According to the recent analytical research, Kiwis’ total gambling expenditure is about $NZ 2 billion per year. 35% of this sum is attributed to pokies (as they call slots in any NZ and Australian online casino), 26% are gained by land based casinos, 21% is spent on lotto, and 18% is sports betting expenditure. Frankly speaking, gambling is quite profitable for the government, since all the gambling operators are required to pay high taxes that are meant for bettering of the community.

Talking about the New Zealand gambling legislature, in the 1920s, bookmaking was legally prohibited. In the 1980s, there were slight improvements since lottery games along with  land based casinos were legalized and fell under the Parliament control. Shortly after that, pokies (which is the way slots are called in any online casino kiwi in Australia and New Zealand) that are also widely known as slot machines were also legalized. As for online gambling in New Zealand, the law says that it’s absolutely legal for New Zealanders to play on the gambling websites providing that they are not New Zealand based.

To tell you even more info about the current gambling situation in New Zealand, there was adopted the Gambling Act in 2003 saying that all the gambling in the country is prohibited unless it’s authorized specifically by the government. In New Zealand, gambling is divided into four major classes, each of them needs to be licensed by the government in order to legally operate in the country.

As for the legal gambling age, you must be over 20 in order to play in a land based casino. As for participation in sports betting (including horse racing), lotteries, and scratch cards, you need to be 18 years old.

Types of Online Casinos for Kiwi

Before, we’ll tell you about different criteria for selecting a worthy gambling website, first of all, you need to be aware of different casino types you can choose from based on your own preferences. You might have known already that there are four main types of gambling websites, which are the following: download or instant play casinos, download casinos, live dealer casinos, and mobile gambling. To decide which option is the best for you, you need to clarify what is the gadget you intend to play on (a laptop, PC, smartphone, or tablet PC). In case you are interested in playing on a smartphone or tablet PC, you definitely need to choose a mobile casino gambling. Then, you need to decide whether or not there’s enough space on your device. If not, we recommend that you opt for a no download or instant play gambling, however, if there’s enough space on your device, we advise you to play in a download casino or a casino app if you are into mobile gambling. These are only a few questions to ask yourself before you can decide what’s the best casino type for you. Under the heading below, we’ll tell you more detailed info about each of these casino types in order to facilitate your choice making process.

No Download

No download or instant play casino type is probably the best one for those who are not interested in downloading anything on their device. No matter whether you don’t have enough space on your gadget or are just too bored to wait for the casino app to be downloaded and installed on your gadget or there’s any other reason for you to want to gamble instantly, we assure you that it’s really a good gambling decision to play in a no download casino. No download casino is also a good option for those who are still uncertain whether or not they want to gamble regularly or not. In this case, there’s evidently no sense in downloading a casino, it’s much better to try it online instead. Some gamblers think that no download gambling is of worse quality compared to download casinos. However, we want to ensure you that you’ll be absolutely satisfied with gaming on the web without downloading anything on your device. So, what do you need to play in a no download or instant play casino? First of all, there should be a browser on your device with an in-built flash player to grant that your gambling will be smooth and enjoyable. Secondly, there has to be a stable and preferably fast internet connection. Basically, that’s it. If you want to try demo games for free, there’s no even need to get registered in the casino. However, if you are after real money gaming, you’ll have to set up a casino account by getting registered in the casino that appeals to you most. As soon as you get registered and have your own gambling account, just make your first deposit in the no download casino of your choice and enjoy instant gambling!

Download

Fundamentally, this casino type is just the opposite to the previously described instant gambling. Evidently, the main point of playing in this casino is that you need to download it and install it on your device first. Only then you can start gambling. Doesn’t this casino type look somewhat old school to you? You need to understand that it’s absolutely not. Evidently, it’s simpler to play instantly instead of waiting for the casino to be installed on your device before you can start playing. However, there are some really rewarding perks of doing this. First of all, it’s quality of gambling. Secondly, you don’t have to go to the web browser, type in the casino link to go to its home page, enter your login credential and so on. Compared to the described above ordeal of accessing  the instant play casino, a download version is much simpler. All you need is just to press on the casino app icon on your device in order to be automatically logged in. there might be security issued though if you have your device stolen, yet you can increase your security and safety in the settings by adding a fingerprint verification every time you wanna access your gambling account. So, if you have enough space on your device (a casino doesn’t usually demand too much of it), opt for a download casino. We promise, you’ll never regret it!

Live

This kind of betting is most adored by experienced gambler, particularly those who already have experience of gambling in land based betting houses. Live dealer betting is truly the best way to feel the incredible land based gambling atmosphere! What substantially adds to these cool feelings and outstanding gambling experience is that you don’t even need to leave your bed, let alone the room, in order to plunge into cool live gambling atmosphere. In addition, it’s truly the best choice of a casino type for sociable gamblers since there’s a chance to communicate with a live dealer as well as other gamblers sitting at your table. So, what’s meant by playing with a live dealer? There’s a casino studio located somewhere in the world. There’s a live dealer as well as the gaming table depending on the game you intend to play. The table along with the dealer is being live streamed so that you have a feeling as though you are playing in a real land based casino. We promise it’s a real pleasure! Naturally, it’s more pleasant to watch your cards being dealt by a real person rather than automatically distributed by a computer monitored by a random number generator. It’s especially relevant for those who opt for genuine emotions and experience rather than their artificial substitutes. So, opt for a live dealer casino, and enjoy all the rich spectrum of the exiting close to real life gambling!

Mobile

These days, cell phones don’t shock anybody any more! So, why should mobile casinos astound you at that point then? Truth be told, it’s presumably the most advantageous type of gambling since it gives you a chance to bet any place you are giving that you have a decent internet connection, which is highly important no matter what casino type you’ll end up with. Mobile casinos, in their turn, can also be of two types – either an instant play no download gambling that you can enjoy using only a web browser on your mobile device with an in-built flash player or a downloadable version, which requires you to install a casino app that you can use on your device. What’s really cool is that you can play on your mobile using an already existing gambling account, which will save you a lot of time releasing you from the necessity to go through the tedious registration procedure. Another cool thing about mobile gambling in New Zealand is that you can get really cool bonuses if you choose to play on your smartphone, tablet PC, or whichever else portable device. Below you can see the table that serves to show you the best mobile casinos available for New Zealand gamblers as well as really cool bonuses that you can get in each mobile casino. Besides, you can check the most popular depositing methods available in each casino as well as find out it takes for your winnings to be withdrawn, which is definitely highly importantly when it comes to real money gambling.