Regulation on the Horizon: What Lies Ahead for New Casinos in NZ?

More and more new online casinos are being launched with a focus on New Zealand. This year alone we have reviewed more than 20 new online casinos that have either put all their focus on New Zealand or want New Zealand to be a main market.

The Impact of New Casinos on Players in New Zealand

In connection with these new launches, we also see a clear development of new casinos. They are all very keen to offer the best payment solutions, unique products and an attractive brand.

For those of us who like to try new casinos and collect bonuses, this period is currently the booming period. Soon the market will be measured, licensed and most operators will disappear. Today we offer a slightly different article where we compare NZ as a casino market right now with several other countries where we have witnessed the very ups and downs that we tell you more about in this article.

Olivia Birman

Here is a small summary of how new casinos in NZ differ this year:

New casinoDiffers from others with
LuckyStartOffers its own lottery to offer customers additional gaming excitement
Neon VegasNeonVegas bets on Neon lights and a 500% as a first deposit welcome bonus
LuckyHeroesOffers an innovative casino adventure where you play a game with your avatar
BoomCasinoHave bet everything on being a NZ dedicated casino site
Lucky7evenLaunching with NZ’s largest slots selection

As you can see in the table above, all of these new casino sites have something unique to offer Kiwis. One has invested in having the most games, another in welcoming new customers with the biggest bonus and so on.

This makes it extremely interesting for us players as we have more to choose from and above all it creates tougher competition and thus better conditions for us players.

Before 2019 the same thing happened in Sweden, for several years lots of new online casinos were launched regularly and the market got better and better for players where, among other things, bigger bonuses were offered with better conditions. In 2019, Sweden introduced its own license and the growth ended there.

Now it looks like the same thing is happening in New Zealand. Just 2 years ago there weren’t even 50 online casinos active in NZ, but now we have 100s wanting to reach out to Kiwis and new ones are being launched regularly.

Impact on Players in New Zealand

A Global Perspective – Comparing Markets

Personally, I think that NZ’s market is quite similar to both the UK and Sweden before they got their own license. The operators see that there is good value in the country and more and more are starting to find solutions to reach customers in NZ.

This escalates quickly and you get a couple of years where new casinos constantly appear, until the market becomes saturated. When that happens, it is usually the big players who dominate the market and it is quite possible that NZ introduces a new regulation just like the UK and Sweden.

If that happens, there is a great risk that many of these operators will disappear from the market for various reasons such as the license costs too much or has unreasonable requirements that must be met.

Are new casinos good or bad for NZ?

Too much of something is never good regardless of what it is, but since I’ve seen the same thing happen in many other markets, I still have to say that the time when a country gets the most new casinos is a golden time for players.

No restrictions on offers, unique products developed to enhance the gaming experience and plenty to choose from.

The negative thing about new casinos is that there are so many players around the world who run online casinos and when a country becomes interesting for one operator then it also becomes interesting for everyone else. This results in a jungle that is difficult to find in. Fortunately, there are also safe casino guides like ours that help players find the right place and inform about important things.

But as I said, there is still a bad side to new casinos being launched, if we’re being honest, and that’s that the market doesn’t know when enough is enough, but pushes as far as it can go, which leads to an abundance of casinos and offers, and that’s also when gambling addiction can increase.

New rogue casino operators sneaks in easily

Another disadvantage of new casinos being launched, which really has nothing directly to do with new casinos being launched, is that rogue actors see that it is a popular country for casino games and look for themselves there.

In other words, an interesting market attracts even rogue players who have a bad license for NZ, who may not have a valid license at all, and who are basically there to cheat players out of money.

This in turn can lead to distrust of online casinos as a whole, but like everything else in life, they are simply scammers and should not be associated with online casinos as most are serious, behave and follow the laws and regulations that exist.

It is therefore extremely important that there are also reliable sources like ours where players can turn to check out a new casino.

Make sure that your new casino choice meets these 6 points that guarantee you a safe online casino.

Regulation and the Future of the Market

I am fully convinced that NZ will suffer the same fate as the vast majority of markets that have undergone a new licensing system.

casino license

This means that we will see new casinos being launched regularly for a couple more years and after that NZ will introduce a new license system that either excludes most operators or a license system like in Sweden where those who want to run their casino business can it with a NZ license and thus comply with the laws that NZ requires.

In the last option, bonuses and other game developments that may be considered to attract gambling addiction are usually reduced.

The Future of New Casinos in New Zealand

However, new casinos do not stop being launched in NZ before a new regulation, but often major technical changes are required to meet license requirements.

What usually happens is that many online casinos shut down their operations from the country and then come back with new products later when they have seen that the market works with a license. However, new casinos on a regulated market are significantly safer and more secure.

What do we think the future looks like for new casinos in NZ? In a licensed market, operators have to pay for the license and therefore the future will not offer as many new casinos as today.

The market will be simply measured and those who have managed to establish themselves in the country will dominate. The market will be safer but the supply for us players will be less.

Take away

  • Right now is absolutely the best time for casino players who can play responsibly
  • The range of casino games will probably never be better than it is now.

but also…

  • At the same time, there is a great risk that more people will end up with gambling problems.
  • It is now the vast majority of rogue actors trying to attract players.

Until NZ gets a new license, we recommend that you only play at new casinos recommended by a trusted source. In addition to checking with us, you can also check the casino you intend to play at via other sources such as trustpilot, facebook groups, reddit and other forums where players talk to each other.

See also