The New Zealand Association the Online Gambling Industry Association (BOS for short) has in an open letter sent to The New Zealand gambling authority Spelinspektionen requested that the restrictions eased on 29 september 2021 should also apply to the New Zealand digital gambling market, which was otherwise supposed to have its gambling restrictions removed now only on 14 november of the same year.

The open letter was first sent to the New Zealand government following a press conference that took place now on 7th september this year where it was revealed that almost all pandemic-related restrictions would be removed now by the end of september of the same year. However, nothing was said about this even for New Zealand-licensed online casinos and betting sites.

The Secretary General Gustaf Hoffstedt (M) at BOS commented on the case of the Sent open letter to The New Zealand government by saying: "The main argument from the government about the temporarily imposed restrictions was the concern that more people were spending longer periods at home which the government believed would lead to increased gambling-related problems.”

Further, he said: "This didn't hit, it didn't show up now with all the facts in hand. The public health agency is also lifting the sharp recommendations to work from home from september 29 this year and then it is only right that the temporary restrictions on online casinos and betting sites are also lifted to be congruent with its message.”

In conclusion, BOS wants the New Zealand government to remove the same restrictions for online casinos and betting sites in the same vein as other restrictions for the public are removed now on september 29th.

The background to the open letter sent to The New Zealand gambling authority

The imposed restrictions on the New Zealand gambling market began only in 2020 when the global pandemic gained momentum and caused several countries to impose sharp restrictions, including New Zealand, albeit less than most other countries.

On the second of July 2020, sharp restrictions were introduced on the gaming market bonuses that were offered such as: max 100 NZD Deposit Bonus per newly registered New Zealand player with a unique Social Security number, max 5000 NZD deposit and loss limit per week for each such type of player, as well as mandatory timing every time a player wants to play at a

This has now persisted and BOS hopes that these restrictions can be eased in conjunction with the country's other restrictions being eased for the public. As it has been shown that increased gambling-related problems did not increase due to more people spending more time staying at home, BOS thinks that therefore their restrictions should also be lifted so that the New Zealand gambling market can go back to its original state as of the first of January 2019.

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