New Zealand District Court Judge David Harvey has ruled that live poker is it not gambling and ads for it and poker educational sites respect New Zealand’s laws according to NZ Herald.co.nz.

The country’s Department of Internal Affairs sued TV3 and C4 stations for showing ads during a show called Celebrity Joker Poker. Indeed, the country’s Department of Internal Affairs accused the channel of not respecting the New Zealand’s laws by promoting online gambling through this program which is illegal in New Zealand (though gambling online with a foreign operator is not).


This case concerned the Asia Pacific Poker Tour.


The Judge ruled that “the nature of the material in the advertisements made it clear that what was being advertised was free websites that do not involve gambling”

“The navigational realities of the Internet mean that there is a very significant difference between web addresses of any nature, be they .net, .com and .org even though they may be associated with a similar domain name.”

He also confirmed that the ad for APPT were within the law because the tournament “…does not involve the payment of consideration based upon the outcome of the game. It involves the splitting of a sum of money derived from the payment of entry fees between the winning players.

“They are conducting a competition involving the game and play of poker.”

But the department of Internal Affairs doesn’t want to accept the decision and expect to appeal it as soon as possible.