Published: Tuesday, October 25, 2005 Online-Casinos.com
ONLINE GAMING MOVES A STEP CLOSER IN KIWI LAND
New Zealand could soon have online lottery facilities
New Zealand gaming authorities appear to be getting serious about going online, at least as far as lotteries are concerned, with new technology from GTech Holdings ready to go as soon as the middle of next year.
However, New Zealand Lotteries spokeswoman Helen Morgan Banda says it might be longer before internet versions of Lotto, Daily Keno and Instant Kiwi become available because a number of issues will have to be addressed first.
"It will be offered in a very controlled way with a lot of safeguards," she says. "A lot of checks and balances will be needed. One would be player registration and another would be proof of age."
Provisions allowing the organisation to go online with its products were included in last minute changes to the Gambling Act in 2003. The amendments were opposed by the Labour Party and anti-gambling lobby groups.
The chief executive of the Problem Gambling Foundation of New Zealand, John Stansfield says it is important that NZ Lotteries has the right safeguards in place before it introduces the online system because it is hard to predict the effects of online gambling.
He is, however more concerned about the effects of terrestrial pokie machines, saying they are the preferred form of gambling cited by more than 90 percent of addicts seeking help through his organisation.