New Zealand considers ban on credit cards for online gambling

Gaming regulators in New Zealand are considering a radical approach to curb the damages from compulsive gambling and their weapon of choice in this is the credit card. According to a report on Asia Gaming Brief (AGB), regulators at the New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs are looking to ban the use of credit cards entirely for their citizens who choose to indulge in online gambling.
The proposed online gambling credit card ban comes as New Zealanders are seeing their options for online gambling increase dramatically. Currently, their only legal option for online gambling is the casino run by TAB (aka the New Zealand Racing Board) and the New Zealand-run Lotto. That monopoly is being threatened by the proposed online gaming options being offered up by the SKYCITY Entertainment Group out of Malta. SKYCITY is launching an online casino aimed at Kiwis that could, potentially, disrupt the entire NZ gaming market.
When the regulators at the New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs heard of the proposed site, they leaped into action to prevent Kiwi gamblers from overindulging by proposing the credit card ban. But is this an idea that will work even a little bit? It’s already been tried in Australia (which is where the Internal Affairs folks presumably picked up the idea) and UK regulators are considering a similar ban. Critics of the proposed plan say that banning credit cards will only push compulsive gamblers to turn to other forms of payment such as prepaid cash cards and crypto currencies.
Currently there is no legislation under official consideration on the plan, but that could change at any time.