{"id":777032325,"date":"2025-09-29T08:24:29","date_gmt":"2025-09-29T11:24:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777032325"},"modified":"2026-04-21T18:43:41","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T21:43:41","slug":"new-zealand-fines-influencers-for-promoting-illegal-offshore-gambling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/new-zealand-fines-influencers-for-promoting-illegal-offshore-gambling","title":{"rendered":"New Zealand influencers fined for promoting illegal offshore gambling"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Four social media influencers have been fined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>New Zealand.- The Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) has imposed fines totalling NZ$125,000 (US$72,150) on four social media influencers for promoting illegal <a href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/new-zealand-online-casino-bill-sparks-concerns\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">online gambling<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The New Zealand Herald reported that the penalties included NZ$30,000 (US$17,315) imposed on Millie Elder-Holmes for <a href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/new-zealand-social-media-star-fined-5000-for-promoting-online-gambling\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/new-zealand-social-media-star-fined-5000-for-promoting-online-gambling\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">repeated promotions<\/a> of overseas casinos, while influencers Calen Morris, Billy Whaanga and Tuhira Wana received fines ranging from NZ$15,000 (US$8,657) to NZ$20,000 (US$11,543). Meanwhie, Spinbet, an online casino based in Curacao, was penalised NZ$60,000 (US$34,631) for 12 separate breaches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Gambling Act currently sets infringement fines at NZ$5,000 per breach, though higher penalties are possible if charges are brought before court. The DIA noted that complaints about influencers promoting gambling have doubled in the past two years, with 75 cases recorded so far in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n<div id=\"see-also-container\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"see-also-label\">See also:<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"related-article\">\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"related-article__thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/05\/New-Zealand-Local-council-seeks-controlled-pokie-expansion-900x600-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"related-article__text\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"see-also-label-strong\">See also:<\/span> <a href='https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/new-zealand-online-casino-bill-sparks-concerns'>New Zealand online casino bill sparks advertising concerns\u00a0<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Four social media influencers have been fined.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":226,"featured_media":777032328,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"New Zealand's Department of Internal Affairs has imposed fines totaling NZ$125,000 on four social media influencers for promoting illegal online gambling, with Millie Elder-Holmes receiving a significant individual penalty. Concurrently, Curacao-based online casino Spinbet was fined NZ$60,000 for multiple breaches of the Gambling Act. This action underscores escalating regulatory scrutiny over non-compliant iGaming promotion, evidenced by a doubling of related complaints in the past two years.","focusai_entities":"Department of Internal Affairs (DIA), Millie Elder-Holmes, Calen Morris, Billy Whaanga, Tuhira Wana, Spinbet, New Zealand Herald","focusai_location":"New Zealand, Curacao","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (1.0), operator_casino (0.9), affiliate_publisher (1.0), marketing_crm (0.9), investor_analyst (0.8), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Regulatory Impact","query":"What precedent does the DIA's enforcement action against influencers and an offshore operator set for future regulatory oversight of cross-border iGaming promotion in New Zealand?"},{"label":"Operator Compliance","query":"How will this enforcement action influence licensed operators' due diligence processes for affiliate and influencer marketing partnerships, particularly concerning jurisdictional compliance and brand risk?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16336,156],"tags":[24844,4138],"class_list":["post-777032325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australasia-news","category-regulation-news","tag-influencers","tag-online-gambling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777032325","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\/226"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777032325"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777032325\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777032338,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777032325\/revisions\/777032338"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777032328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777032325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777032325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777032325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}