Online Casino Gambling Bill

Philanthropy New Zealand recently made a submission on the Online Casino Gambling Bill (the Bill).  This was developed in consultation with PNZ members.  

While we welcome the introduction of legislation that regulates the online casino gambling environment in New Zealand, we strongly recommend that the Bill be amended to introduce a requirement for online casinos regulated under the Gambling Act 2003 (“the Act”) to distribute funds annually to the community – consistent with the requirement for other gambling outlets, including in person casinos.  

There is no clear or compelling evidence or justification provided in either the Bill or supporting documents from officials why online casino gambling should be exempt from providing funds to the community in the same way as Class 4 gambling licences or in-person casinos. 

Gambling licences are a privilege not a right, and one of the core elements of the Gambling Act 2003 (and other legislation regulating gambling) is that a portion of the funds made in profit is shared with the community.  The harms of gambling to the individual, their family, workplaces and the community are well-known – and problem gambling is treated as a public health issue.  As part of this well-established policy, our legislation adopts a harm minimisation approach to regulation.  Harm minimisation includes, for example, prevention and mitigation requirements and accountability that are in the licensing system, a gambling levy to fund the licensing scheme and problem gambling research/initiatives, and a community contribution to help rebalance the harm to community. This is a longstanding principle that has led to hundreds of millions of dollars being granted annually for sports, arts, health, youth, and social services – and is essential funding supporting many charitable, community and volunteer-led organisations.  This is not a dependency but a long-standing social contract.

There are a growing number of New Zealanders who are engaging in online gambling, which is likely to reduce revenue gathered from other gambling sources over time.  These other gambling sources contribute to both the economy and the community.  Our members are concerned about both the lost opportunities that this funding stream will cause and the flow-on impact that it will have on the rest of the funding system and charitable sector – which is already under considerable pressure with an economic recession, high unemployment, a reduction in public spending/services, and the recent proposals on taxing charitable business activities. The concern is that as online gambling grows, it will "cannibalise" the revenue from 'land-based' gambling, thereby eroding the community funding base without a replacement mechanism.