Thorsten Steins / 13 July, 2023 10:46 | Last edited on: 13 July, 2023 11:12
New Zealand sports clubs were finally ready to jump, abroad it was already quite normal for betting companies to sponsor sports teams. In 2021, it was finally possible to do the same in New Zealand. Nice extra income for sports teams like football clubs, online casinos usually pay a lot better than the average sponsor. The football world was flooded with new sponsors such as BetCity, TOTO, Unibet and Lucky Nugget. However, this welcome new stream of sponsorship for football clubs is short-lived. From 1 January 2025, sponsorship of sports venues and sports clubs will no longer be allowed in New Zealand.
This change of course contradicts previous statements by Franc Weerwind, Minister of legal protection. He stated that advertising from gambling companies was simply necessary to indicate a difference between the casinos that have a license and the companies that enter the black market and can not advertise in New Zealand.
| Ban gambling advertisements | Ban effective date |
| Non-targeted advertising on tv and other media | as of 1 Jan 2023 |
| Sponsorship of events | As of 1 jan 2024 |
| Sponsorship of sports clubs and venues | As of 1 jan 2025 |
With these changes in policy, that bit of distinction becomes a lot more difficult. Especially since the cabinet already introduced rules related to BN ers (well-known New Zealanders) in gambling advertisements. This has not been allowed since the end of June. This makes it even more difficult for casinos with a license from the Ksa to distinguish.
Minister of legal protection explains: "Today we have taken an important step towards further curbing gambling advertising. Advertising is a means of directing people to the legal offer, but the importance of addiction prevention outweighs. In particular, I want to protect vulnerable groups such as young people.”
Advertising on advertising will not go away completely. The aforementioned rules apply to non-targeted advertising or sponsorship. For example, when a player actively searches google for online gambling , then it is possible for online casinos to advertise.
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