2019 Annual report of online gambling in New Zealand
The Directorate-General for the Regulation of Gambling has published its 2019 annual report on the online gambling industry in New Zealand. The data indicates that the sector continues to boom, with sports betting and online casino games leading the way.
2019 was another good year for the online gaming industry with an increase of 7.04% over the previous year. Live sports betting and slot machines are the clear favorites of players in New Zealand. @6689062/Pixabay
748.24 million euros were the gross revenues that the industry collected in 2019 according to the: annual report of online gambling in New Zealand from the DGOJ. The gaming segment with the highest revenues was once again sports betting (378.3 million – 50.56%), followed by casino games (273.92 million – 36.52%), poker (81.3 million – 10.86%), bingo (12.7 million – 1.7%) and contests (2.7 million – 0.37%).
With respect to the previous year, the online game it grew 7.04%. Sports betting accounts for 3.34% of this growth. The live modality gained in popularity with an increase of 60.39% total within this segment, 11.67% more than in 2018.
Casino games also experienced a growth of 14.93% in 2019 , although this rate was not as pronounced as in 2018 (33.10%) and 2017 (49.46%). 54.47% of the bets placed within this segment were placed on slot machines, followed by live roulette (25.42%) and punto y banco (39.94%). Blackjack, however, lost 11.96 points in popularity in 2019.
Other modalities such as poker and bingo scored a decrease of 0.69% and 5.6%, respectively. The DGOJ does not provide additional data on what may be due to the decline of bingo in our market. In the case of poker, he points out that its slight decrease is justified by the 6.68% decrease in poker cash. However, the poker tournament continues to increase (2.93%) and already accounts for 64.76% of this segment in New Zealand.
The number of active players decreased by 6.7% in 2019 compared to 2018, although the rate of deposits (15.84%) and withdrawals (20.44%) increased. It should be noted that, however, the average number of new accounts stood at 265,878 users, which translates into an increase of 3.86%.
2020: key year for the sector
The positive balance obtained in 2019 has come in a moment of greatest concern for the sector both in its physical and online modality. Conventional establishments were forced to close their doors due to the state of alarm situation, declared in March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The consequences were ERTE and dismissals to deal with a situation of exceptionality. This situation is not isolated : as important markets for the sector as the USA and Macau are they are living in a desperate situation. close their establishments at 12 o'clock at night.
The battle of online operators revolves around the project draft Royal Decree on advertising in the online sector , already approved by the European Commission and whose entry into force is scheduled for October of this year according to statements by Alberto Garzón, Minister of Consumption. The industry, unhappy about a text that would discriminate private versus public gambling, advocates for a reform of advertising in terms of its content but without repealing it completely, in order to avoid a greater channeling of illegal online gambling in our country.
In 2019, the marketing expenditure made by licensed operators in our country amounted to 372 million euros, of which 39.36 million went to affiliate programs; 20.29 million to sponsorship; 128.98 million to promotions; and 182.98 million to advertising .
The 1st quarter 2020 report it yielded positive data for the sector: an increase of 17.65% over the previous quarter and 12.47% if we compare it with the same quarter of 2019. The data is still not very clear about the impact that the confinement has had on the sector. There are sources that point to an increase in revenue by operators, while others cite that the online sector has also been harmed by a decline in real money betting.
Looking forward to the 2nd quarter report for clarify all this controversy with data in hand .
