GamblersPost Gamblers Post is a dedicated news and networking portal in the online gambling industry which features news, opinions, interviews as well as product and software reviews.
For some time New Zealand has been battling international gambling websites illegally using “.nz” in their website addresses. So far authorities found 13 sites like this.
New Zealand has strict gambling regulations and Only Lotto and TAB so far were approved to officially offer services to local customers. However, It doesn’t stop others from trying to do it illegally. One of the websites even used the official coat of arms of the country, trying to fake having some sort of formal connection with the New Zealand government.
This issue is monitored by The Department for Internal Affairs (DIA). It already reached out to the website hosting providers in order to try and have the sites taken down.
Within current law, it’s not illegal for New Zealand citizens to gamble on international websites. But DIA claims to be worried about their safety.
“These operators can exist in unregulated or under-regulated places and can be run by criminal organisations looking to cheat you out of your money or use the contact to attempt to hack identities,” said Chris Thornborough, representative of The Department for Internal Affairs.
This situation potentially could also lead to New Zealand adopting Australia’s policy regarding domain registrations. Kiwi’s neighbour requires websites to provide proof of address, physical or legal when registering “.au” domain.
