New Zealand Gambling
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean. It mainly comprises of two main landmasses which are segmented islands – North Island and South Island. The proliferation for gambling in New Zealand happened after the European contact was established as the people there settled their passions for betting on horse racing and card room playing, which was soon taken after by the number games and raffles. However, in order to prevent it from corrupting practices, the government of New Zealand legalized the gaming in order to ensure a better regulation and also forming a way of earning national revenues.
Up till 1980, horse racing was deemed as a highly social game for men, albeit the women were more indulged in housie (bingo) which was run by local church and community members. Many families would even purchase weekly ticket for the “Golden Kiwi” – a national raffle. Despite liked by people, the games were strictly controlled by the government and held in specific times and venues. In 1990, the world of commercialized continuous gambling surfaced on New Zealand. In 1991, Electronic Gambling Machines (EGM) were introduced legally in the country and soon it became a hit with reportedly 19 per cent of the total gambling spend in the first year. By 2003, the amount accelerated up to eight times to comprise just over 50 per cent of all gambling expenditure. Today, the gambling has been legalized and there are six legal gambling accessibilities available in five cities. However, the only legal gambling medium is casino, with Queenstown as the city with most number of casinos. It has two casinos and four slot machines. Sky City casino in Auckland is the largest casino in the entire country with a facility of 110 table games and 1647 slot machines and video poker games.
