The government is looking to fulfil its election promise to regulate and tax online casinos - currently a semi-regulated 'grey zone'.
One of the ways it's doing this is by auctioning off licences for overseas companies to establish online casinos here, with around 15 up for grabs.
The TAB, which has a monopoly on sports betting here, had tried to buy one of those casino licences for 150 million dollars but was knocked back.
So why is the government looking to keep these licences in this incredibly lucrative area out of the hands of New Zealand companies and given the harm problem gambling can cause, why do it at all?
In Depth reporter Guyon Espiner talks to Emile Donovan about how casinos operate in New Zealand and why the TAB wants part of the online action.
Photo: 123rf
