Illegal online pokies sites profiting during COVID-19 in New Zealand

Despite arguably having a better handle on the COVID-19 lockdown than anywhere else in the world, New Zealand has another interesting problem: ‘illegal’ pokies. Given the system for online casino gaming over in New Zealand, there is a list of provided casinos that you can and should use. Many gamers, though, like choice and thus choose to get their pokies to fix on more international sites.

However, studies have shown that web searches for illegal online casinos have moved quite significantly during the COVID-19 crisis both in New Zealand and Australia. It appears that despite government attempts to try and shut down these sites from opening up to NZ audiences, savvy gamers are finding ways to access to new online casinos that they shouldn’t be using.

Indeed, it was found that ‘online pokies’ had more than tripled in terms of search numbers from February to April. The pandemic has forced many of our habits to change, but it would appear that people in Oceania are happy to keep looking for a little slice of luck in what has become an increasingly luckless year for the world.

However, expect even more effort to be made on part of the government to try and shut down the source of these illegal sites from popping up. While some might not lack the lack of choice, it’s a clear directive from the New Zealand government to limit where players can change their luck with pokies.