Westpac Group has announced it will implement a higher interest rate on credit card gambling payments made to TAB, Lotto and other online gambling operators in New Zealand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
New Zealand.- The Australian bank Westpac Group<\/strong> has announced that it will charge higher interest on \u201cquasi cash\u201d gambling payments made by customers <\/strong>using its credit cards. The higher rate will apply to Lotto, TAB and other online gambling operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From November 30, payments to gambling operators and cryptocurrency exchanges will be considered as cash advances<\/strong> instead of ordinary purchases. That means they will incur a 22.95 per cent interest rate rather than 20.95\u200b per cent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, the Problem Gambling Foundation<\/strong> claimed that a planned review of gambling laws was necessary and that New Zealand should follow the example of Britain\u2019s Gambling Commission, which banned payments from credit cards to gambling companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Spokesman Andree Froude<\/strong> told Stuff.nz: “Credit cards provide a means for people to do that when they don\u2019t really have the money. I think the move to ban credit cards would be a good one.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n She added that customers could avoid paying interest by using their debit card instead of credit card.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Froude said that Westpac should do more to prevent gambling-related harm and gave the example of Kiwibank<\/a>, the first bank in New Zealand to offer a system that lets customers block payments to casinos and gaming websites<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The system was developed with the help of the Problem Gambling Foundation <\/strong>and arrived after the Department of Internal Affairs reported pokies (slot machines) set a new record spend from October to December 2020<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n