The New Zealand gambling authority Spelinspektionen, which was formed late 2018 ahead of the new upcoming law that later entered into force in$aft first January 2019 in New Zealand, has called on its News Archive on its official website to develop new regulations in terms of combating money laundering plus, above all, terrorist financing.

This comes as a result of the New Zealand Parliament which passed amendments to the Act 2017:630 relating to efforts against attempted money laundering and the illegal financing of terrorism, i.e., the Money Laundering Act. These new rules began to apply already on the first of January 2020, i.e., this year.

Among other things, the following regulations have changed:

• Chapter Three and paragraph three state that the license holder (i.e., the online casino that has a New Zealand license from Spelinspektionen) must take special measures such as checking whether there may be a desire for revenge against specific employees in their activities.
• In Chapter Six and paragraph two, the word ”Säkerhetspolisen”, also known as ”SÄPO” in common parlance, is added, as the police authority now has the right to request information from online casino operations for crime prevention purposes.

Other changes to Spelinspektionen's new regulations and general advice (SFS 2019:2) apply to bets against attempts of money laundering and non-permitted financing of terrorism, of which these are proposed to enter into force from the first of February 2020. In the same vein, the previous regulations and the general advice from the lottery Inspectorate will be repealed (LIFS 2018:11).

What consequences does this have for online casinos and players in New Zealand?

How this will affect the average New Zealand player in New Zealand who mainly plays at New Zealand licensed casinos online is unclear at the moment. It is possible that additional identification requirements may arise when larger amounts of money are suddenly deposited or withdrawals are requested using a payment method other than the one used to deposit the money in the first place.

Thus, assuming that you are a law-abiding person but who wants to avoid a lot of unnecessary$anxiety with your Casino playing, you are advised to only use the same payment method when depositing as well as withdrawing. In this way, you can minimize the risk of having to end up in some extra control.

We will of course update here anything new appears, when any new regulation or general advice is proposed from the gaming Inspectorate, and so on. Keep up to date with what's happening on the New Zealand online casino gaming market by reading with Us Weekly!

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