What Are New Zealand’s Authorities And Casinos Doing To Help Protect Players?

As the New Zealand government1 moves forward with its proposal to introduce online gambling in 2026, we have looked at what New Zealand casinos are currently doing to protect players. There are currently five brick-and-mortar casinos operating in New Zealand. All these casinos currently pay a gambling levy that goes towards many different organizations and projects. One of these organizations is the Problem Gambling Foundation of New Zealand (PGF), which was formed in 2001.

PGF provides free counselling to people who feel that their gambling has become an issue. They have over 60 locations throughout New Zealand and are the largest problem gambling organization in Australasia. As a result, we can conclude that New Zealand is doing their very best to help those suffering from problem gambling. However, what are they doing to try and protect players and prevent the problem from happening in the first place?

Table of Contents

Preventing The Problem

New Zealand has always taken a forward-thinking approach when it comes to preventing problem gambling, which is one of the reasons they have been reluctant to introduce legalized online gambling in the first place. However, as that is due to change very soon, they are looking to step up their game even further.

They aim to do this by strengthening laws and regulations, actively promoting responsible gambling and increasing their player support channels. Here’s a closer look at some of the measures that are either already in place or they are looking to implement with immediate effect:

Education And Awareness

One of the best ways to tackle any problem in life is to make people aware of the issue in the first place. This is exactly what Health NZ is doing with their awareness campaigns, which are predominantly aimed at younger adults.

Their current program for gambling addiction, called Safer Gambling Aotearoa, aims to not only raise awareness but to help people understand problem gambling better2. This means understanding the signs of problem gambling and the effects that it can have on you and your friends and family, as well as understanding different modes of gambling and their related harms.

They also offer tips so that players can help to regulate their gambling habits themselves. This includes tools such as a ‘Test Your Gambling’ quiz so that players can assess their gambling habits and take any necessary actions accordingly. They also provide help and information to the friends and family of those who know someone experiencing gambling problems so they can effectively help. In addition to this, they provide resources that can be shared with community members, workplaces, and sports clubs to provide further support.

Safer Gambling Aotearoa also runs the annual Gambling Harm Awareness Week, designed to help people understand how to have hard conversations about gambling harm, reach out for support, and promote local services and counselling to help them.

Strengthening Laws And Regulations

The New Zealand government is introducing tougher gambling regulations and has specifically targeted pokies. Pokies, or slots as they’re also known, account for the largest portion of revenue at any brick-and-mortar or online casino. Unfortunately, that also means they are the biggest issue when it comes to problem gambling.

However, the government is doing their best to tackle this. They have regulated the number of pokies that are readily accessible to players and have reduced those numbers in areas where gambling addiction3 is higher.

It’s also compulsory for a casino to display each player’s activity during a gaming session. This allows the player to see how long they’ve been playing for and how much they have either won or lost during their session. The aim is to encourage players to take a break as people can often lose track of time when they’re playing.

The Department of Internal Affairs has also stepped up their efforts in monitoring and regulating the industry. They play a key role in educating casino operators, so they can actively promote safer gambling and spot the early signs of addiction.

The new bill set to introduce these measures is designed to reduce gambling harm by regulating more online casinos, meaning players will be more likely to be directed to sites that are safe for them to play at. It is also meant to include stricter age verification processes to prevent underage gambling, with more robust needed for operators to verify players’ ages before they will be allowed to play. Any operators given a license through this bill will also be subject to regular audits and inspections to ensure compliance with the bill, further ensuring players are protected.

Safer Gambling Tools

To obtain or retain a gambling license, casinos must invest heavily in their safer gambling procedures. This includes offering tools such as deposit limits, which can be set daily, weekly or monthly, time limits that offer players regular breaks, loss limits so players don’t lose more than they can afford and self-exclusion options so players cannot gamble for a certain period of time.

Some of these measures are extremely hard to implement in a brick-and-mortar casino, but that doesn’t mean that casinos in New Zealand aren’t trying. Some casinos are even adopting AI technology to monitor player habits. Again, this is much easier to do online but it can still be used in brick-and-mortar casinos too.

For instance, you can see how often a player visits the casino and how long they tend to stay. If a casino spots a significant increase in either, then the technology will flag this, and the casino can reach out to the player to offer support if needed.

The Signs Of Problem Gambling

One of the biggest issues with problem gambling is being able to identify it4. It’s very hard to measure as everyone is different, everyone has different budgets or different amounts of spare time available to play.

For instance, you have two players who lose $1,000 in a day, which is a significant amount to most people. How do you know if either of them has a problem? Do they both have problems? Do neither of them have an issue?

The easiest way for a casino or a player to identify a problem is by monitoring changes in player habits. If both players were to return the next day and continue to lose, would there be an issue if one player loses another $1,000, but the other loses $2,000? Not necessarily as they may have different budgets, but the player that lost more will definitely be monitored closer.

If these players were to return a third day and experience more bad luck with the first player again losing $1,000 but the second player losing $4,500, the situation would become clearer. Although the first player has lost yet again, they have a $1,000 daily budget and are sticking to it. However, the second player has doubled their losses on consecutive days, which is certainly a red flag.

Here are a few signs of problem gambling that you can look out for:

Gambling with increasing amounts of money
Using gambling as an escape
Chasing losses
Becoming irritated after a gambling session
Borrowing money to finance gambling
Lying about your gambling sessions

Reaching Out For Support

Although this is 2025 and we are supposed to live in a liberal environment, reaching out for help when it comes to gambling addiction is still a taboo subject for many. Like many addictions, it’s not clearly understood what causes gambling addiction. It’s thought to be caused by a combination of environmental factors, biology and genetics.

If you feel like you have a problem, the best and bravest thing you can do is to reach out for help. Remember the old saying: ‘a problem shared, is a problem halved’. It’s okay to be nervous when asking for help, this is perfectly normal.

While instantly telling someone isn’t going to resolve the problem, getting the burden off your chest will make you feel better. Remember, recovery is a process and while you may have ups and downs along the way, try to keep your goal clear so that you can stay focused on achieving it.

Keeping Gambling Fun

Gambling was created to be a form of entertainment, and to most people that’s exactly what it is. Unfortunately, some players struggle to keep within their boundaries. That’s why many casino operators advise players to:

Set a time limit
Set a budget
Create a bet limit and don’t deviate from it whether you’re winning or losing
Understand the house edge
Don’t chase losses
Don’t game when you’re feeling low or depressed

New Zealand’s Commitment to Player Protection

As New Zealand gets set to welcome a new dawn for gambling, it’s clear that they can see both the benefits and drawbacks to it. As a result, they are taking an active approach to keep players safe5 and casino gaming fun.