The history of gambling in New Zealand

New Zealand’s gambling culture is nothing like the others. The origin of the culture is a tale of European settlers and indigenous New Zealanders coming together to create the gambling industry we know today. If you wish to learn how New Zealand, a country with beautiful nature and interesting people, created an equally exciting gambling culture, read along.

Online gambling

To get a full understanding of the gambling history, it is crucial to know how the state of the gambling culture is today. In 2008 the expenditure on gambling was as high as 2.034 billion NZ dollars. Many New Zealanders choose to play at online casinos instead of land-based casinos, as it is easier and less time-consuming than driving down to a casino. Now people can simply take out their smartphone whilst on the bus and play for just a few minutes or hours.

All it takes to find the best online casino in NZ today is an internet connection and a smartphone or a laptop. Today there are large selections of casinos with great bonuses, and since casinos are usually required to have an authorization by the New Zealand government, you are more likely to find safe casinos than the opposite.

The European settlers

The first signs of gambling lead back to the 1800’s, where European settlers came to New Zealand. They brought horse betting with them. Some of the first horse races were held at the military garrison in 1835 in Auckland. Usually, the horse races were held during meetings. The officers were the ones playing the officials, while the racehorses were owned by the soldiers themselves.

In 1841 Henry Petre, an English lawyer who was the first military aviator in Australia, used his own horse Calmuc Tartar to win a race. But the year after, Calmuc Tartar lost to an imported horse named Figaro. About 40 years later a subcommittee was set up with the intention to establish the New Zealand Racing Association. This would later create rules for registration of colors as well as a race calendar.

The 1980s

During the 1980’s New Zealand implemented economic reforms, which then led to more liberalised laws. At this time gambling also became liberalised as restraints were lifted, and this became the catalyst to the gambling industry we know today.

Lotteries were introduced in these years, and it was in 1991, that the first electronic gambling machines were introduced and were often placed in clubs and bars. The machines were very popular, as they made up 19% of gambling spent. Unfortunately, this resulted in an uptick of gambling problems. Luckily, New Zealanders began to seek help, since there were programs who could help these individuals, and the programs also were able to track the amount of people using the services.

Popular slot machines

You might think you’ve never heard of these so-called “pokies”. But, actually, they are slot machines that we know from casinos. In fact, half of all wagers are used for slot machines, which is due to the fact that philanthropic organizations chose to place them in different places, so people could stumble upon them. Even though pokies are still popular, a lot of people are choosing to play them online instead.

A pivotal year

In 1994 the first legal land-based gaming establishment in New Zealand was opened. Under the name of The Canterbury Casino the establishment could welcome guests from all over the world. Many native people would visit the casinos as well as Asian tourists, who would come to New Zealand to try out their luck. This was the first time that New Zealanders could play table games such as horse racing, sportsbooks, and pokies, which were the preferred games.

The future

Today there are six land-based casinos in New Zealand. Some of the casinos are truly remarkable with amazing views as well as a big variety of games and slot machines. The casinos often feature swimming pools and theatres as well as many bars and restaurants.

But for the future, it is expected that online casinos will take over and follow the trends from other countries. In a busy daily life, many people find it easier to play online, as it doesn’t take up as much time.