Along with electric cars and takeaway delivery services, there’s been another boom industry over the last few years – gambling. Of course, it’s always been popular, but a number of factors have put it into a whole new dimension with one of the key ones being the explosion of the online variety.
This has brought the activity within the reach of many more people and the sheer convenience and novelty have been all that have been needed to gain a loyal following.
It’s also been a phenomenon all around the world, with some countries taking to it far more than others.
While Las Vegas or Macau might be the first places to spring to mind when it comes to gambling in general, in the online world it’s a very different story indeed.
The UK leads the way
Few people would dispute that it’s the UK that leads the way in this respect. According to the official figures put out by the UK’s Gambling Commission, between April 2019 and March 2020 remote betting in casinos and bingo raised £5.7 billion in revenue, making it the single biggest sector for the gambling industry as a whole.
Overall, across the same period betting generated a total of yield of £14.2 billion, a 0.6% drop on the previous year’s figure. But the fact that the yield for remote betting showed an increase of 8.1% tells you all you need to know.
There are several contributing factors behind the popularity of gambling in the UK and the most important of these is the relatively liberal laws that govern the activity.
While New Zealand is relatively free and easy in its approach to gambling, it still lags a fair distance behind the UK, although it may be catching up. When the last full survey was carried out into New Zealanders’ participation in gambling back in 2012, it found that the most popular forms of wagering were on the lottery and the slots machines that are so prevalent throughout the country.
Since then, online casinos have emerged but there are up-to-date stats that investigate their popularity. But we do know that gambling in general produces an annual yield of NZ$ 2 billion. Considering the population is under 5 million, this is a significant sum.
If we assume that remote gambling has the same share of the total turnover as the UK, then that equates to around NZ$ 800 million a year.
Drilling down a little deeper into the actual games that are being played online in both countries, these are very similar. Slots games are always the most popular with players. They’re fast and simple to play and the potential winnings are far greater than on table games like roulette and blackjack. That’s not so say these aren’t popular as well, because they are in both NZ and the UK.
But what may be different in the two countries is the quality of the online casinos in which they’re played.
Quality and trust is everything
It would be fair to say that many online casinos give players a truly state-of-the-art experience with the most up-to-date games, the newest technology and the slickest playing experience. This is only to be expected, as the UK has highest number of online casinos creating a very competitive environment.
While there may be a great number of online casinos in the UK, the tough regulatory framework that is overseen by the Gambling Commission ensure that they are responsibly run and fair to players. On the few occasions when operators have been found to fall short, their licences have been quickly removed.
This has meant that only the very best online casinos can survive operate and thrive. 888 Casino, for example, is a leading operator that has performed incredibly well inside of the regulations. Because of their in-house studio, they are able to create new exclusive and unique slots themes as well as offering the most popular slots from the leading game producers and thus their casino games portfolio is by far the biggest and most diverse in the industry, making it a fantastic, one of a kind UK online casino.
The law is a little more complex in New Zealand. While no online casinos are allowed to be operate in the country, players are free to play in ones from overseas. But plans might just be afoot to introduce more liberal laws when it comes to online gambling.
Is change on the way?
Will Labour push through the changes?
The government’s Department of Internal Affairs is reported to be considering a number of options. Currently the TAB, which is owned and run by the New Zealand Racing Board and Lotto, are the only permitted forms of online gambling. But the first option would be to expand their activities to include online casinos.
Option two would be to allow land-based casinos that currently operate in New Zealand, such as Sky City, to apply for online licences. The third, and most extreme, option would be to open up online betting to any legitimate operator willing to pay a licence fee for access to this potentially very lucrative market.
However, of the main political parties it’s the National that seem to have the most comprehensive pro-gambling policies. And, with half the number of parliamentary seats of Labour, it looks like they will not be able to have much influence.
But anything can happen in politics and the tax revenue that an expansion of online gambling could deliver must be appealing on some levels to Jacinda Ardern’s party.
So it’s very much a case of “watch this space” for developments that may or may not be on the cards.
