{"id":777024257,"date":"2025-03-19T09:44:28","date_gmt":"2025-03-19T12:44:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777024257"},"modified":"2026-04-22T00:42:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T03:42:08","slug":"tab-nz-reported-to-have-sought-law-change-to-bid-for-new-zealand-online-casino-licence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/tab-nz-reported-to-have-sought-law-change-to-bid-for-new-zealand-online-casino-licence","title":{"rendered":"TAB NZ reported to have sought law change to bid for New Zealand online casino licence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The TAB is barred from offering online casino gambling under current New Zealand laws.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

New Zealand.- It’s been reported that TAB NZ urged the New Zealand government to change the law to allow it to apply for one of New Zealand’s upcoming online casino licences. RNZ reports that it offered to pay NZ$150m (US$87.2m) for one of 15 licences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The TAB is currently prohibited from offering online casino gambling because it is a statutory body. RNZ reported that the government rejected its call for a change in the law. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Minister of internal affairs\u00a0Brooke van Velden<\/strong> reportedly said: “I don’t believe that the government should be involved in casino gambling. I look at the government trying to address the core services that people need in their lives and providing an online service for casino games is not what I think the government should be involved in.”<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"New
New Zealand\u2019s minister of internal affairs, Brooke van Velden.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Racing minister Winston Peters<\/strong> also said he was against any change in law, but the TAB told the RNZ that it would continue to push for the legislation to be reviewed. It argues that New Zealanders aged 18 to 35 are currently choosing overseas operators more often than the TAB. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, an Internal Affairs briefing written last March warned that giving an online monopoly to the TAB could be questioned due to the state company’s relationship with London-listed Entain, which has a 25-year deal to run TAB operations<\/a>, since it would mean profits going abroad. It also mentioned compliance concerns with Entain in Australia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The licensing system for online casinos<\/a> in New Zealand is expected to be operational by early 2026. The minimum age for online gambling will be 18, and licensees will be able to offer casino games only, not sports betting or lottery products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Advertising by licensed gambling operators will be allowed, although there will be strict limits and no sponsorship. It will be illegal for unlicensed operators to offer services to New Zealanders, and those who don\u2019t have a licence could face penalties of up to NZ$5m (US$2.8m). Licensed operators will be subject to a 12 per cent gambling duty and a problem gambling levy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The TAB is barred from offering online casino gambling under current New Zealand laws.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":777024978,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"TAB NZ's proposal to offer online casino gambling and acquire one of New Zealand's upcoming licenses was rejected by the government, citing opposition to state involvement in casino operations. Despite TAB's offer of NZ$150m and arguments about retaining domestic players, concerns regarding its statutory status and partnership with Entain, including potential profit repatriation and compliance issues, were noted. New Zealand's online casino licensing framework is set to launch by early 2026, featuring strict regulatory and fiscal conditions for private operators.","focusai_entities":"TAB NZ, New Zealand government, RNZ, Brooke van Velden, Winston Peters, Entain","focusai_location":"New Zealand, Australia, London","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (0.9), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.8), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Impact on Entain's NZ Strategy?","query":"Given the New Zealand government's rejection of TAB NZ's online casino bid and the stated concerns regarding Entain's partnership, what are the potential implications for Entain's long-term strategic positioning and operational scope within the New Zealand market?"},{"label":"Future of State-Owned Operators?","query":"How does the New Zealand government's firm stance against state involvement in online casino gambling influence the broader global trend for state-owned enterprises in regulated iGaming markets, particularly concerning their expansion into new verticals?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16336,153],"tags":[23709],"class_list":["post-777024257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australasia-news","category-igaming-news","tag-tab-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777024257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777024257"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777024257\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777024273,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777024257\/revisions\/777024273"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777024978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777024257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777024257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777024257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}