Update 2021
SkyCity Online Casino has now been live in New Zealand since September 2019. The online casino quickly established itself as one of the best online casinos in New Zealand.
SkyCity online casino saw a massive influx of new customers during 2020 with many traditional land-based casino players moving to online casinos during the various lockdowns. SkyCity did receive a warning for breaching the gambling act after the Auckland-based casino sent a mail to their customers advising them to play at the online casino. This was the only breach and one that was always likely to occur at some point.
SkyCity Entertainment Group Announce Online Casino
The gambling community in New Zealand has been rocked as SkyCity announce that they are going forward with the launching of the SkyCity Online Casino.
A Maltese subsidiary of SkyCity Entertainment Group has entered into a collaboration with GIG, as was disclosed by the group. GIG is a provider of casino software that specialises in the construction and management of casino websites for operators of online casinos. They ensure that the websites have proper functionality, that they integrate with a variety of game providers, that they provide support services, regulatory assistance, and banking integration, and that they integrate with numerous banks.
Online Casino Rumours
The rumours had been swirling for close to a year before Graeme Stephens made it clear that SkyCity was investigating the possibility of launching their online casino. The news first broke on the BestNewZealandCasinos.com website before other national newspapers and websites picked up on the story.
Worries surrounding legalities
The biggest hurdle that SkyCity had to overcome to set up an online casino was the fact that according to the Department of Internal Affairs website, it is illegal for a New Zealand business to offer online gambling products to New Zealand residents. The full stance of the DIA can be found on their website.
The workaround to this problem was for SkyCity to create a Maltese subsidiary that would be the actual online casino operator. Because this subsidiary was based outside of New Zealand, it would be completely legal for it to provide online gambling services in New Zealand.
The prohibition is on remote interactive gambling in New Zealand and therefore does not prohibit gambling conducted overseas. For example, it is not illegal for someone in New Zealand to participate in gambling over the Internet if that website is based overseas.
The law that SkyCity are using to skirt “The MAN” is the same law that is going to limit how much the casino is now going to be able to impact the Kiwi economy. The company that is providing the Online Gambling service cannot be a New Zealand company, therefor many of the support staff that should be hired in New Zealand, helping boost our local economy are going to be based overseas where the money will be used to grow some foreign country’s economy.
Because of this rule, gamers who run into issues with casinos have very few legal options available to them in their home communities. If a player has a complaint, they are required to file it in a foreign jurisdiction, such as Malta, even though the rules and degree of player protection there might not align with what New Zealanders perceive to be an acceptable standard. However, other jurisdictions that give gambling licences provide no player remedies if a casino takes your money and refuses to pay you winnings. Malta is not a particularly problematic country in this regard.
So is this SkyCity
This is where it starts to get complex. The online casino will be branded with the SkyCity logo, it will likely have various promotions that are linked to the famous Aukland casino but in reality, it will be an entirely separate entity. The casino itself will be run out of Malta with input from New Zealand but the companies need to remain separated for various legal reasons.
We have high hopes that the fact that the parent company is based in New Zealand will assist in convincing the New Zealand government that online gambling is not nearly as shady an enterprise as it was 20 years ago when the majority of online casinos were nothing more than cons to steal the money of naive customers.
When will SkyCity be live?
The SkyCity casino website is not yet live but industry insiders tell us that it is only a matter of weeks before the Casino is launched to the New Zealand population.
The face of online gambling is about to change, the owners of these casinos are no longer shady characters hiding in the shadows with Grandma’s pension, they are big local businesses that pay taxes, employ hundreds of people and act in a socially responsible manner.
