New bonus terms and conditions 2019

Starting on 1 January 2019, New Rules apply to gambling at online casinos in New Zealand. The new Gaming Act means, among other things, that an online casino must apply for a New Zealand gaming license, that they must not advertise in the same way as before and that all license holders must check that a player has not closed himself from gambling before his registration goes through. The new Gaming Act also means changed bonus conditions at online casinos, what the casino offers in casino bonus and what the bonus is.

• The new gaming license means new bonus rules
• Only one Welcome Bonus per licensee applies
• How it turns out with regular bonuses remains to be seen

What does the new law say about bonuses?

The new gambling law means that an online casino must have a New Zealand gaming license in order for you to play with them. Once it has been passed, you can play at the casino and if you win, the winnings are tax-free. However, the law means that the number of bonuses at online casinos decreases. The casinos may only offer one Welcome Bonus per license and many gaming companies today own more than one gaming site. As a result, if you have received a welcome bonus on one of their sites, you will not be able to do so on the other sites.

You can still take part in a welcome bonus, but not more from one and the same license. In addition, they are also not allowed to offer other casino bonuses on a regular basis, as the vast majority of online casinos have done in the past. It is clear that the bonuses will be fewer, but exactly how limited it will be in the future is still not clear. The 14th chapter of the regulations on gambling responsibility and more specifically paragraph 9 states that a license holder may only offer a bonus at the first gambling opportunity. What is meant by bonus, however, the future may show more clearly.

Why is the number of bonuses decreasing?

Gambling addiction is a widespread problem today. To address this, the Gambling Authority has decided that all licensed casinos should offer a gaming break. This means that they have to check whether a player is in a suspension register or not before they can offer him to play at the casino. You shut yourself off and can choose between different periods. The new bonus rules are another method to reduce gambling addiction and that by offering fewer bonuses than before at the casinos.

As I said, there is still some uncertainty about what is meant by a bonus and whether a casino will really not be able to offer any other reward at all except the welcome bonus. The question is whether it will affect the casinos ' loyalty program and their point levels. Another question that arises then is whether an extended service and personal support also count as a bonus. There are no unambiguous answers yet and whether questions like these become questions of interpretation or not. The law is still completely new and has not been tried in practice before.

Advantages and disadvantages

The new Gaming Act is intended to create a safer and more serious gaming climate, which of course is positive. Whether the new bonus terms are positive or negative can be debated, but they are part of a greater protection against, among other things, gambling addiction. By reducing the number of bonuses where it is only possible to take part in one bonus per license, the risk of registering with several casinos to get more money to play for is reduced. Updates and clearer guidelines will surely come when the new law has been in practice for a while.