The New Zealand Gambling Authority, Spelinspektionen, has fined two online casinos for not complying with the applicable self-exclusion rules. The online casinos in question are gaming companies such as Genesis Global Limited First and then Paf Consulting Corporation which has taken the hit this time.

The background to this is first and foremost the new Gaming Act that came into force in$aft this year on the first of January, which means that all casinos, physical as well as online, must apply for gaming licenses with the gaming Inspectorate if they want to market their services to New Zealand players.

With a new gambling law that came into force this year, it also means that all bookmakers who want to sell their services on the New Zealand gambling market must also offer the possibility for players to self-exclude themselves from gambling, i.e., be able to lock themselves out of it temporarily.

What these two online casinos did not offer was this necessary and statutory self-exclusion feature to their New Zealand players which allowed them to play casino games even though they thought they were in possession of the option not to do so (i.e., self-excluded themselves). In this way, the gaming companies violated New Zealand law and are therefore punished with a decent fine.

If they repeat the same mistake again, they may lose their gaming licenses completely and then have to make a new application again at the gaming Inspectorate, which takes time and costs additional money to get new gaming licenses, which in turn means lost potential revenue.

This is how much the bookmakers have to pay in fines

First up is the gaming company Genesis Global Limited, which is fined a whopping$4 million onor while Paf gets a smaller sum of$ 100,000 to pay. Both will have to pay these with immediate effect otherwise they risk losing their gaming licenses on the New Zealand gaming market which would mean that the New Zealand players would have to pay tax afterwards on all their winnings if they play at online casinos without a New Zealand gaming license.

Many New Zealanders do not know that the new gambling law means that if you choose to play at an online casino that does not have a New Zealand gaming license, your winnings are subject to high profit tax, which is why many New Zealand players prefer gambling sites that have this New Zealand gaming license that began to apply at the beginning of this year.

Whether these two cases of failed self-exclusion services to New Zealand players are the only ones or whether history will repeat itself remains to be seen. The fines should be an indication to other bookmakers not to repeat the same thing. According to the New Zealand gambling authority, the amount of the fine will never be higher than 10% of the company's turnover that they receive from New Zealand gambling customers.

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