New Zealand’s closed licensing regime presents ‘good test case’ for better regulation
BetComply Co-Founder and Chief Compliance Officer Mike de Graaff has voiced optimism over New Zealand’s impending igaming regulation, which limits the market to just 15 licenses.
Speaking on the Protecting Players, Navigating Pressure: Smarter Compliance in a Regulated Landscape panel at iGB Live today (Thursday 3 July), de Graaf repeatedly voiced his concern over the effect of over-regulating the industry and pushing players to more agile black-market operators.
“When regulation gets tighter, the board members at black-market operators start celebrating” de Graaff said. Later on, he remarked: “New Zealand is going to be a very good test case where we can do this right.”
He said BetComply has several clients who intend to apply for a New Zealand license and welcome to closed regime. The hope is that by limiting competition on entry to the new market, there will be less overstepping of the regulations in a bid to attract players, and consequently less need to tighten the rules later on.
“Take the example of the Netherlands,” De Graaff told COMPLETE iGAMING after the panel, “it was an open licensing system, so everyone that got a license went in very aggressively trying to obtain market share.
“There were two branch organizations in one industry in the Netherlands, that’s how divided it was. And then you have people that were not part of a branch organization, and then everyone’s fighting for market share, everyone’s overstepping the line. Then we get more restrictions, more regulations.” New Zealand’s approach should, in theory, make for a calmer and more reassured market.
“We know exactly who is here. There’s no one else coming,” de Graaff says. “So if we do one proper form of self-regulation, then we can actually make money for the 15 of us and not have advertising restrictions next year, and more responsible gaming restrictions the year after because one of the group is doing dangerous stuff and the other one is doing risky advertising.”
New Zealand introduced its Online Casino Gambling Bill to Parliament earlier this week, taking a step closer to the legalization of igaming in the country. It called for operators to register their interest in applying for one of the 15 licenses at the end of June.
There has already been some lobbying over the licensing regime, with casino operator SkyCity Entertainment Group pushing for the government to limit the number of licenses to five, and monopoly operator TAB New Zealand rumoured to be in a dispute with the government about whether it is entitled to a license under the new regime.
Asked whether BetComply’s clients are likely to enter the market with a collaborative approach to self-regulation, de Graaff said: “My clients know that I speak very bluntly. My team speaks very bluntly, and we try to do the right thing in the industry, in heavily regulated markets.
“It’s for the commercial benefit of the industry basically. We are commercial companies, but I think that gambling is high risk and it’s addictive on its own. We can make a lot of money legally. We have been given the frameworks. Let’s not overstep here and try to become billionaires in small markets by extorting the public. Let’s create sustainable gambling markets that are stable, where some companies can make decent money.”
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