ChristChurch Online Casino to Cease and Desist

August 15, 2007

Christchurch Casino has been ordered by the New Zealand government’s Internal Affairs Department (IAD) to cease and desist all activity within the next seven months. The B&M casino operator knew that it was inevitable that this would happen, due to the online gambling nature of their business.

The casino group offers online gambling in the form of online casinos, poker and bingo, and this is in direct violation of the Gambling Act that was passed in 2003. The IAD told them in August of 2006 that their participation in online gambling contravened the act, and that they needed to stop offering online gambling.

The company is registered offshore through Christchurch Casino E-Gaming Investments, and used an online gambling license that they obtained through the Government of Antigua and Barbuda. They had assured the government that their online gambling had checks and balances and procedures to keep Kiwi punters from visiting their online casinos.

The company recently sold their online casino to overseas owners, which sped up the legal case against the company. IAD Minister Rick Barker said that it would have taken longer had the company chose to keep the online gambling site and fought it in the courts, but since they haven’t it has taken significantly less time.
 

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