Online betting in New Zealand 2026: where the money goes, who is allowed to take it and what each offer costs

Updated October 2026

Licensed

Available in US

Fast payouts

18+ Only

TAB NZ and its online sister brand Betcha are the sole operators permitted to accept online sports and racing bets from individuals in New Zealand. Other bookmakers reviewed here serve New Zealand customers from offshore, which is against local law and outside the national harm-minimisation framework. This comparison highlights that split, as it is the primary factor determining the potential cost for the punter.

This page reflects information current as of 26 October 2026 and was checked against the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) register statement on the Racing Industry Amendment Act 2025, the Racing Industry Act 2020 text and the operators’ own published terms.

Mobile betting apps in New Zealand: the only lawful app, and the offshore alternatives in the app stores

A punter who wants to bet from a phone in New Zealand has, in practice, two lawful doors: the TAB NZ app and the Betcha app. Everything else sits in the app stores under the same “sports betting” label, and the law treats it differently.

TAB NZ publishes its betting app under the seller name New Zealand Racing Board, and it has been listed on the New Zealand App Store since 8 September 2014. The app covers horse and harness racing, rugby union, rugby league and the wider sports catalogue that TAB NZ runs in retail and online. It carries a 17+ App Store age rating, with the operator’s own terms stating that customers must be 18 or over to bet — the gambling age is 18 across the Racing Industry Act 2020, not the 20 used at land-based casinos. Inside the app, punters find the bet builder functions that have become standard: Same Race Multis, Same Game Multis, one-tap Popular Multis, and a Place Extra option that lets them back runners to finish up to 10th in selected races. The racing product is unusually deep for a single-operator market: Trackside live race streaming with in-app betting, racing form, Blackbook and Jockey Challenge tools, and a simplified wallet for deposits and withdrawals. That depth is what TAB NZ’s 25-year partnership with Entain — signed in 2023, with a 50/50 gross-profit split and at least $150m a year to TAB NZ for the first five years — was bought to build. The wallet is the place where the offer’s price lands: deposits and withdrawals route through it, and the Bonus Cash credited to new TAB NZ customers is split across multiple bets by the punter, not refunded as a single free stake. A wagering requirement on Bonus Cash exists in TAB NZ’s own terms; the figure is not published in the App Store listing, so a punter weighing the headline has to read the bonus terms inside the app before committing a deposit.

Betcha is the second online brand of TAB NZ, published on the New Zealand App Store by Entain New Zealand Limited, first released on 6 August 2024. Because Betcha and TAB sit on the same licence and the same harm-minimisation framework, what changes between them is the product shape and the promotion. Betcha was built for the phone-first punter; TAB is the legacy brand. A punter who already has a TAB NZ account opens Betcha inside the same wallet and the same exclusion framework, so a self-exclusion that runs on TAB also runs on Betcha.

Outside the lawful pair, every other sportsbook app in this comparison — Glorion, RoyalistPlay, Sportaza, Telbet, Alawin, FunBet, BetNinja, 22Bet, Boomerang Bet, LunuBet, Golden Panda, Rabona, Thunderpick, Roobet, SpinBetter, Baji and BillyBets — sits in the New Zealand app ecosystem through the App Store’s country selector, not through a New Zealand licence. None of them names a New Zealand harm-minimisation register; none of them carries the Gambling Helpline (0800 654 655) or the text line 8006 in the same place the TAB NZ app does. The age check at sign-up is the operator’s, not New Zealand’s, and the operator’s own terms set the minimum at 18 across the brands reviewed here — Glorion, Alawin, Boomerang Bet and LunuBet all name 18 as the minimum. That does not equal New Zealand protection: a 25-year-old Curaçao or Anjouan licence is, from a New Zealand punter’s standpoint, an overseas contract under overseas dispute rules.

The Genuine Detail of an offshore app here is the version of the product the operator exposes to New Zealand. Some brands keep most sports; some pare back. The cost to the punter is the same in every case — no New Zealand exclusion register applies, no New Zealand complaints body hears disputes, and any winnings sit on a balance the operator can choose to refuse if the operator’s own terms allow it.

Live betting and cash-out in New Zealand: in-play on TAB NZ, and what an offshore in-play product does not give the punter

In-play betting is part of the lawful product. The TAB NZ app lists live betting alongside its pre-match offering, on rugby union, rugby league, basketball, football and the racing codes. Live betting is also the place where the offer’s price is hardest to see, because prices move faster than the punter’s screen, and the operator’s margin is what the punter pays regardless of direction.

The Same Game Multi is the live product’s natural partner: a multi whose legs sit inside one event, so the punter can back several moments of the same match at once. Same Game Multis are also where a margin compounds — each leg carries its own margin, and the overall margin on a four-leg SGM is higher than the margin on any one of its legs taken alone. A punter who builds a Same Game Multi for the All Blacks is paying that compounded margin on every leg.

Cash-out — settling a bet before the final outcome, at a price the operator sets — sits inside the TAB NZ product. The price is the operator’s; the punter has no separate right to a particular cash-out figure. A punter who wants to lock in a profit takes whatever cash-out the operator offers at that second, not the figure the bet might have paid if it had been left to run. Cash-out is also the place where the bookmaker’s margin sits heaviest, because the operator is pricing both sides of a closing position it controls. The honest framing: cash-out is convenience priced at a margin, and the punter pays for the convenience whether or not the cash-out turns out to have been the better choice.

Offshore, FunBet’s home page lists live betting on football, ice hockey, American football, basketball, volleyball, tennis, rugby and baseball, with a bookmaker it describes as open 24 hours. Live betting on FunBet is not a New Zealand product; it is an overseas product that New Zealand customers can reach. The same is true of every offshore brand on this page. The price to the punter is the same in every case: an in-play product whose dispute route is the operator’s, not New Zealand’s.

Bet types and odds in New Zealand: what a price pays back, and what the margin takes out of it

Decimal odds are the standard form across New Zealand-facing brands. A price of $2.10 means a $10 stake returns $21 — the $10 stake plus $11 of profit — if the bet wins. That is the whole arithmetic of a single bet: return equals stake times odds, net profit equals stake times (odds minus one). The combination bet multiplies the odds of its legs into a single price, which is why a four-leg multi at $2.10, $1.90, $2.50 and $3.00 returns $29.93 on a $1 stake — and why the same bet, if one leg loses, returns nothing.

The bookmaker’s margin is the other side of that arithmetic, and it is what every price on this page is paying for. For a market with three outcomes — a 1X2 on a football match — the payout share is 1 divided by the sum of 1 over each price: a market at $2.50 / $3.20 / $2.80 has a payout share of 1 ÷ (0.40 + 0.3125 + 0.3571) = 1 ÷ 1.0696 = 93.5%, and a margin of 6.5%. A margin of 5% looks small in a sentence and is the reason a winning $10 stake at even money returns $20, not the $21 it might at a true even-money market. A 5% margin across a punter’s annual turnover is, on average, what the operator keeps of every dollar bet.

A punter comparing two prices on the same selection is comparing two margins. A price boost from $3.00 to $3.50 is the difference between a market with a 5% margin and a market with a 2% margin — both look like a gift, and one is, and the other is the operator moving inside the same margin it always had. The Same Game Multi compounds the margin across legs, and the multi-leg parlay compounds it again, so a six-leg multi at even money on every leg has a payout share well below 50%, not the 50% the six legs suggest in isolation. The arithmetic is unforgiving, and the marketing is forgiving by design.

Offshore brands price to their own margins; TAB NZ prices to its own. The punter’s job is to see both sides — the price that pays back, and the margin that took the rest.

Sports and tournaments in New Zealand: the local calendar and the offshore catalogue

The local calendar in New Zealand runs on a few pegs. Rugby union — the All Blacks, Super Rugby Pacific, the NPC — anchors the winter betting product. Rugby league runs through NRL. Cricket — the Black Caps — runs the summer. The Melbourne Cup is a single day in early November that draws more betting turnover than most weekends of racing put together; a punter asking how to bet on the Melbourne Cup online in New Zealand has one lawful answer, and that is the TAB NZ product, because the Melbourne Cup is a racing event under New Zealand law and the Racing Industry Act 2020 covers it. Cup Day is also the day a Same Race Multi, a Quinella, an Exacta and a Trifecta become meaningful, because the field is large and the place-getters are deep. Netball, football, basketball and the Warriors round out the codes punters bet on in any given month.

Offshore, the catalogue is wider and the prices vary by brand. FunBet’s home page lists odds on football, ice hockey, American football, basketball, volleyball, tennis, rugby and baseball, with live betting and a bookmaker it describes as open 24/7. The catalogue is wider than TAB NZ’s, which is the headline offshore brands use to attract New Zealand customers; the price is the absence of New Zealand protection when a dispute arises, a withdrawal sits in limbo, or a self-exclusion needs to be enforced across brands.

Greyhound racing is closing in stages from 1 August 2026, and from that date offshore operators may not take bets on greyhound races either. The three racing codes — thoroughbred, harness (trots) and greyhounds — are not the same product, and the closure date is the date at which one of them stops being a betting market under New Zealand law. A punter holding a multi that includes a greyhound leg on or after 1 August 2026 needs to know which side of that line the bet sits on.

The offshore catalogue also covers esports, virtual sports and the novelty markets that have grown around the major US leagues. The Racing Industry Act does not establish whether esports betting is “sports betting” for the purposes of section 74AAA, which is the kind of uncertainty a punter pays for when they take an offer without asking the question first.

New bookmakers entering New Zealand: why the category is thin, and why each new entry is a question

The category is thin on purpose. New Zealand law, since 28 June 2025, says no person other than TAB NZ may offer racing betting, sports betting or other racing or sports betting to a person in New Zealand, regardless of where that person is resident or incorporated. The Department of Internal Affairs told providers serving New Zealand to withdraw with immediate effect when the change took effect. There is no licence route for another bookmaker and no register of betting licences, because there is only one lawful operator.

A new bookmaker entering the New Zealand market in any meaningful sense has to be either a new brand of TAB NZ, or an offshore brand choosing to take New Zealand customers against New Zealand law. The first is a rebrand of the existing monopoly — Betcha was the last new TAB NZ brand, launched in 2024 — and the second is a category the law treats as a breach by the operator. Neither of those is what a punter shopping for a “new bookmaker” usually means.

What a punter shopping for a new bookmaker usually meets in this comparison is a brand that launched elsewhere and has decided to accept New Zealand sign-ups. Rabona launched on 23 December 2019 as the sixth online sportsbook of the Soft2Bet group, which makes it one of the older entries on this page — five years of operating history, and no New Zealand licence for any of those years. A “new” bookmaker, in the New Zealand context, is one whose breach of section 74AAA is recent, not one whose licence is recent.

How online betting works in New Zealand: the steps, and the place where each step costs the punter

The procedure runs in a fixed order, and each step has a price attached that the marketing does not always name.

The first step is account opening. TAB NZ needs a verified New Zealand address and ID; the age check at sign-up is part of that, and an account opened without it stops at the deposit screen. Offshore brands ask for less, and the operator’s own terms set the minimum at 18 across the brands reviewed here — Glorion, Alawin, Boomerang Bet and LunuBet all name 18. The price of a lighter sign-up is the absence of a New Zealand regulator to complain to if the account is closed for a reason the operator does not name.

The second step is deposit. TAB NZ publishes a list of accepted deposit methods inside its wallet; offshore brands publish theirs in their cashier pages, with country selectors that include or exclude New Zealand. The price of a deposit is the deposit method’s own fee — a bank transfer carries no fee, a card deposit sometimes does, an e-currency conversion sometimes does. Crypto deposits carry a network fee and a conversion fee, and the conversion fee is the price the punter pays for using a coin the operator does not price natively.

The third step is placing the bet. A single bet is a stake at a price, with the return calculated as stake times odds and the profit calculated as stake times (odds minus one). A multi is a series of legs whose odds multiply into one price, and the margin on a multi is the compounded margin of its legs. The punter’s job here is to see both sides of the price — what the bet pays back if it wins, and what the margin takes out of it if it does not.

The fourth step is settlement. TAB NZ settles through its wallet; offshore brands settle through theirs. The price here is the wait: TAB NZ, withdrawals, route through the same wallet, and the time depends on the method. Offshore brands name their own times; an offshore brand naming “instant withdrawals” is naming a marketing line, and the punter who has waited three days for a wire knows the difference.

The fifth step is the dispute route. TAB NZ has New Zealand’s harm-minimisation framework behind it — self-exclusion across both brands, the Gambling Helpline, Safer Gambling Aotearoa, and a regulator (DIA) that monitors compliance with the betting prohibition. Offshore brands have the operator’s own dispute route, an overseas licence, and no New Zealand complaints body. The price of the offshore route is a mechanic the operator controls.

The walkthrough above is what online betting looks like in New Zealand; the price of each step is the part the marketing does not always name.

Top 10 betting sites in New Zealand: a comparison of what each one offers, and what each one costs

TAB NZ and Betcha sit at the top because they are the only lawful options in New Zealand. The other eight are offshore brands New Zealand customers meet, ratings that come with the same caveat in writing — none of them are licensed in New Zealand, none of them offer New Zealand’s harm-minimisation framework, and none of them carry the same complaints route. The table below shows what each brand names in its own terms on the subject of online betting in New Zealand.

The spread above is not a ranking. The lawful options sit together because the law puts them together. The offshore brands sit together because they are what they are — overseas bookmakers with overseas licences and no New Zealand protection. A punter choosing between them is choosing between a regulated New Zealand product with full harm-minimisation, and an overseas product with no New Zealand regulator behind it.

Overview of online betting in New Zealand: who is doing what, and what the landscape looks like

The landscape in New Zealand is shaped by one fact. TAB NZ and Betcha are the only operators allowed to take online sports and racing bets from people in New Zealand, and they are the two brands of the same operator group, not rivals. Entain runs the TAB business under a 25-year agreement signed in 2023 that gives Entain a 50/50 share of gross profits, with at least $150m a year going to TAB NZ for the first five years. Entain pledged a one-off $100m payment to the racing sector as part of the same partnership. The partnership is the reason the in-app product has the depth it does: Trackside live streaming, Blackbook, Jockey Challenge, Same Race Multis and Place Extra are what a long-term investment buys.

The offshore side of the landscape is the side most punters shopping for a “best online betting site” actually meet. The brands in this comparison are a mix — some with Curaçao licences (Roobet under OGL/2024/687/0427, Thunderpick under OGL/2024/677/0722, 22Bet under 8048/JAZ), some with Anjouan licences (Sportaza under ALSI-202606064-FI2, SpinBetter under ALSI-202607036-FI2, Baji under ALSI-202410030-FI1), one with a Tobique e-gaming licence (RoyalistPlay), one with a Union of the Comoros licence (BetNinja), and some without a clear licence at all (Telbet, Glorion, Alawin, FunBet, Boomerang Bet, LunuBet, Golden Panda). The licence itself is what determines where a dispute is heard, not whether it is heard; a Curaçao licence is heard in Curaçao, an Anjouan licence in Anjouan, a Tobique licence in Tobique, and none of them in New Zealand.

The landscape also includes a small set of brands that sit at the edge of the comparison. Rabona launched on 23 December 2019 as the sixth online sportsbook of the Soft2Bet group, which gives it five years of operating history — older than most of the offshore brands on this page, and still outside New Zealand law. SpinBetter.com is owned and operated by 3-102-955890 LIMITADA (DBA Sprut Group Limitada), registration number 3-102-955890, with a registered address in Jaco, Puntarenas, Costa Rica, under licence number ALSI-202607036-FI2. Baji.com is run by Northern Lights Limited Holdings Limited, registration number 15839, registered in Mutsamudu on the Autonomous Island of Anjouan, Union of Comoros, under Anjouan licence No. ALSI-202410030-FI1. Roobet.com is a brand name of Raw Entertainment B.V., registration number 157205, Korporaalweg 10, Curacao, licensed under Curaçao licence OGL/2024/687/0427. Thunderpick.io is owned and operated by Paloma Media B.V., a Curaçao company with company number 146988, licensed by the Curaçao Gaming Authority under licence number OGL/2024/677/0722. None of these licences confers the authority to offer gambling services to New Zealand residents, and all represent what the player encounters when a brand positions itself as international.

Legality and regulation of online betting in New Zealand: the statute, the regulator and the offshore question

The Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) is the gambling regulator under the Gambling Act 2003 and monitors compliance with the betting prohibition. The Racing Industry Act 2020 establishes TAB NZ as the sole betting provider for racing and sports in New Zealand. The Racing Industry Amendment Act 2025 inserted section 74AAA: no person other than TAB NZ may offer racing betting, sports betting or other racing or sports betting to a person in New Zealand, regardless of where that person is resident or incorporated. The change took effect on 28 June 2025, and DIA told providers serving New Zealand to withdraw with immediate effect.

There is no licensing route for another bookmaker and no licence register for betting, because there is only one lawful operator. The law does not geo-block offshore websites; it puts liability on the offshore operator. A punter in New Zealand can open an account with an offshore brand in the same way they can open one with a bank in a country that has not asked them to; the difference is what happens when the account goes wrong. The offshore operator’s dispute route is the operator’s, and the operator’s regulator is the regulator that issued the licence the operator named.

The Online Casino Gambling Act 2026 licenses online casino gambling only and does not license sports betting. TAB New Zealand winning the right to apply for a casino licence does not extend the betting monopoly. The two products — sports betting and casino gambling — are licensed under separate regimes, and a casino licence is never a betting licence. Bets on politics and novelty markets are not established under section 74AAA, and esports betting is the same — whether esports betting is “sports betting” for the purposes of the section is not established.

What may be bet on is what TAB NZ takes: racing (thoroughbred, harness, greyhounds until closure), rugby union and rugby league, the codes that make up the rest of the catalogue. TAB NZ takes fixed-odds and tote (pool) bets; its published betting rules define bets such as Win, Place, Each Way, Quinella, Exacta, Trifecta, First Four, Double, Treble, Daily Double, Running Double, Quaddie and Big6, and Multis and Same Game Multis. No lawful New Zealand betting exchange exists and spread betting is outside TAB NZ’s sports-betting definition. The ban covers events held inside and outside New Zealand; a bet on the Melbourne Cup is a bet on a racing event under New Zealand law, and the lawful route is the TAB NZ product.

Responsible gambling in New Zealand: the tools TAB NZ runs, the offshore brands do not, and the help that is independent of both

The age for TAB NZ betting is 18 (betting under 18 is an offence under section 89 of the Racing Industry Act 2020); land-based casinos are 20 — and the two thresholds are not the same. TAB NZ accounts need a verified New Zealand address and ID, which is how the age check sits inside the account-opening flow.

TAB NZ provides safer gambling tools in its app: deposit limits, time-outs and self-exclusion, and an exclusion that applies across its brands (TAB and Betcha). The free New Zealand gambling helpline is 0800 654 655, with a text line at 8006, and Safer Gambling Aotearoa is the independent service the app points to. TAB NZ must keep the risks of problem and underage gambling minimised, and pays a Problem Gambling Levy of 0.74% (in force from 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2028). The levy is the operator’s contribution to harm minimisation; the tools are the punter’s.

There is no national online-betting exclusion register in New Zealand: the register the casino law will require is for online casinos only, and a punter who has self-excluded from TAB NZ and Betcha can still open an account with an offshore brand, because no offshore brand sits inside the New Zealand exclusion framework. The offshore brand’s own self-exclusion is the offshore brand’s, and the offshore brand’s own age check is the offshore brand’s; both are weaker than the New Zealand framework because neither sits inside a New Zealand regulator’s reach.

Help is independent of either side. The Gambling Helpline (0800 654 655, text 8006) and Safer Gambling Aotearoa are the routes a punter in trouble can take, regardless of which brand they bet with. Inland Revenue is the route for tax questions — recreational gambling winnings are generally not taxable, and prize money from TAB horse, dog and trotting races is not taxable; a punter who bets as a business is a different case and the right route is an accountant or Inland Revenue.

Crypto and anonymity in online betting in New Zealand: what TAB NZ does not offer, and what an offshore crypto product does not protect

TAB NZ does not run a crypto product. Its wallet takes the deposit methods its terms publish; crypto is not one of them. A New Zealand punter who wants to bet with Bitcoin or USDT has to go offshore, and the offshore brand on the other end takes the bet under the same section 74AAA breach as every other offshore brand. The crypto product is not a New Zealand product; it is an overseas product that accepts New Zealand customers.

Offshore, Telbet describes itself as a crypto casino and sportsbook, and the Russian-language site lists a welcome offer of 200% up to 1 BTC plus 50 free spins and a 5 USDT free bet. Thunderpick is a crypto esports and casino brand under a Curaçao licence. Roobet is a crypto casino and sportsbook under a Curaçao licence. The crypto product is the marketing centre of these brands — fast deposits, “anonymous” accounts, a wallet that does not ask for a bank — and it is also the product where the punter’s recourse is thinnest. A crypto wallet has no chargeback right; a crypto withdrawal cannot be reversed by the punter’s bank; a crypto dispute sits with the operator and the operator’s regulator, not with New Zealand’s.

DIA warns that overseas operators may be in jurisdictions with minimal consumer safeguards, may not return unspent credits and may not pay out large wins. The warning is the same whether the brand accepts a card or a coin; the crypto product just makes the warning sharper, because the punter has fewer levers outside the operator’s terms.

VPN use is not addressed by New Zealand statute for betting; the law is written around the operator, not the punter’s connection. Account opening at TAB NZ requires a verified New Zealand address; an offshore brand’s account opening does not. The price of lighter onboarding is lighter protection.

Bonuses and free bets in New Zealand: what TAB NZ offers, what an offshore bonus costs to clear, and why the headline is the smaller number

Bonuses in New Zealand are split between the TAB NZ product, which runs under New Zealand rules and the Problem Gambling Levy, and the offshore product, which runs under the operator’s own terms and an overseas licence.

TAB NZ offers Bonus Cash to new customers, and the Bonus Cash is split across multiple bets by the punter, not refunded as a single free stake. The app lists a Mega Multi bonus of up to $50 in Bonus Cash when a multi of 4 or more legs falls short by a set number of legs (terms and conditions apply). The “falls short by a set number of legs” line is the difference between an accumulator insurance and a free bet: an accumulator insurance refunds the stake (or part of it) when a multi misses by one leg, while a free bet refunds a token the punter did not pay for. The Mega Multi is closer to an accumulator insurance than to a free bet, and the punter’s job is to see the difference.

Offshore, the bonus headline is the smaller number. Golden Panda’s bonus terms (last updated 2026-08-31) state that bonus funds cannot be used while the player has open casino or sports bets — a condition that means the bonus is unavailable until the punter settles every outstanding position, and a punter with three open multis cannot place a fourth. The condition is a real cost on the bonus’s headline value, because the bonus is the headline and the open-bets condition is the price. The punter who ignores the condition leaves the bonus unused.

The bonus turnover is the other side of the headline. A bonus that requires turnover of six times the bonus base on selections at minimum odds of $1.50 is a bonus whose headline is the bonus size and whose real cost is the turnover multiplied by the margin of the market the punter wagers it on. A punter clearing a $100 bonus with $600 of turnover at a 5% margin pays, on average, $30 of expected cost — and that is before any stake that is not refunded at the end of the wagering requirement. The arithmetic is what every bonus costs; the marketing is what every bonus promises.

TAB NZ runs “bonus bets” promotions; no New Zealand rule on bet-bonus size or wagering terms was found, so the punter has to read TAB NZ’s own terms before claiming. Offshore, the punter reads the operator’s terms — and the operator’s terms are the only terms that apply, because no New Zealand regulator hears disputes about an offshore bonus.

How TAB NZ, Betcha and the offshore brands compare on the key points

The comparison that follows is the comparison the punter is actually making, because each row is a question the punter asks before clicking deposit.

TAB and Betcha sit on the same licence, the same wallet and the same exclusion framework, and the difference is product shape — TAB is the legacy brand with the full catalogue, Betcha is the phone-first brand built for the same punter. A punter choosing between them is choosing between two products from one company, not two products from two companies.

The offshore brands sit on their own licences and their own dispute routes, and the spread between them is wider than the spread between TAB and Betcha. Some — Sportaza, RoyalistPlay, BetNinja, 22Bet — name a specific licence; some — Glorion, Telbet, Alawin, FunBet, Boomerang Bet, LunuBet, Golden Panda — name no licence that applies in New Zealand, and a few name no licence at all. The punter’s read on any of them is the same: an overseas brand with an overseas regulator and no New Zealand protection.

The marketing on the offshore side uses three words a punter needs to see past. “Risk-free” is the article-language form of a marketing word; it usually means a free bet whose stake is not paid back with a win, or a refund that returns as a free bet rather than cash. “Free bet” is the second word; the free bet’s value is the amount times (odds minus one) divided by odds times the payout share of the market — a $10 free bet at $3.00 odds on a market with a 95% payout share is worth, on average, $12.67, not $20. “Boosted odds” is the third; a price boost from $3.00 to $3.50 is the difference between a market with a 5% margin and a market with a 2% margin, and the operator is moving inside the margin it always had.

The price to the punter is in the same place every time: the margin of the market the bonus is cleared on, the conditions attached to the bonus, and the wait for the withdrawal when the bonus is done. Each one is a number the page can name; the rest is what the marketing says about the number.

The operators reviewed

TAB — the lawful New Zealand product, with the depth the Entain partnership bought

TAB is the legacy online brand of TAB NZ, the holder of the only lawful racing and sports betting licence in New Zealand under section 74AAA of the Racing Industry Act 2020. The product covers horse and harness racing, rugby union and rugby league, the wider sports catalogue, and Trackside live race streaming with in-app betting. Safer gambling tools sit inside the app: deposit limits, time-outs and self-exclusion, with the Gambling Helpline (0800 654 655) and the text line 8006 listed. Bonus Cash for new customers can be split across multiple bets, with a Mega Multi bonus of up to $50 in Bonus Cash on multis of 4 or more legs that fall short by a set number of legs.

The price to the punter is the same price every regulated bookmaker charges: the margin baked into the price, the wagering requirements on the Bonus Cash, and the wait for the wallet to settle. The difference is the framework behind those prices — a New Zealand regulator, a New Zealand complaints route, and a self-exclusion that runs across TAB and Betcha.

For a New Zealand punter who wants the only product the law allows, TAB is the product. The catalogue is narrower than the offshore brands, and the price is the narrower catalogue’s price.

Betcha — the phone-first brand of the same operator, with the same protection

Betcha is the second online brand of TAB NZ, published on the New Zealand App Store by Entain New Zealand Limited, first released on 6 August 2024. It sits on the same licence, the same wallet and the same exclusion framework as TAB. The product is built for the phone-first punter; the catalogue is the same.

The price to the punter is the same as TAB’s price. The product is built for a punter who might rather open an app built for the phone than use the legacy brand’s app, and the licence is the same licence.

For a New Zealand punter who wants the lawful product in a phone-first shape, Betcha is the product. The choice between TAB and Betcha is a choice of product, not a choice of operator.

Glorion — an offshore brand, with no New Zealand licence and a 18+ minimum

Glorion accepts customers over 18 years of age only, and support is available by Live Chat or by email. The brand names no licence that applies in New Zealand, and no local complaints or harm-minimisation framework covers it. The product sits inside the offshore bookmaker category, with the offshore bookmaker’s price.

The price to the punter is the absence of the New Zealand framework — no New Zealand regulator, no New Zealand complaints route, no New Zealand self-exclusion that binds across brands. A punter who chooses Glorion is choosing the offshore product with the offshore product’s protections, which are not the New Zealand product’s protections.

Punters in New Zealand assessing offshore products with varying risks will find Glorion an alternative lacking a local framework.

RoyalistPlay — an offshore brand licensed in Tobique, with no right to take New Zealand bets

RoyalistPlay is owned and operated by Novatrix SRL, a Costa Rica company with registration number 3-102-893958, and states that it holds e-gaming licence No. 0000002 from the Tobique Gaming Commission. The Tobique licence provides no authorisation for New Zealand wagering, and no local support or protection reaches the brand.

The financial impact for the punter is the offshore product’s base cost, alongside the added burden of an e-gaming licence from a regulator with limited reach. A dispute that cannot be resolved by the operator’s customer service sits with Tobique, not with New Zealand. RoyalistPlay is an offshore product without local protection.

For a New Zealand punter seeking an offshore product with a Tobique licence, the brand is a secondary choice. RoyalistPlay is an offshore product without local protection.

Sportaza — an offshore brand licensed in Anjouan, with a Tobique licence cited in terms

Sportaza’s footer states it is licensed and regulated by the Government of the Autonomous Island of Anjouan, Union of Comoros, under licence No. ALSI-202606064-FI2, while its terms (section 1.4) cite licence No. 0000067 issued by Tobique. Two licences cited, neither of which authorises New Zealand wagers. No local support or protection reaches the brand.

Financial terms for the punter involve the offshore product’s base cost, with the added burden of two licences from regulators with limited reach. A dispute that cannot be resolved by the operator’s customer service sits with Anjouan or Tobique, not with New Zealand.

Punters in New Zealand evaluating offshore sites with specific Anjouan and Tobique licence citations need to view this brand as a secondary choice without local authorization.

Telbet — an offshore crypto brand, with no licence that applies in New Zealand

Telbet describes itself as a crypto casino and sportsbook, with a welcome offer of 200% up to 1 BTC plus 50 free spins and a 5 USDT free bet on its Russian-language site. A crypto wallet has no chargeback right; a crypto withdrawal cannot be reversed by the punter’s bank.

The price to the punter is the offshore product’s cost structure, with the added burden of crypto’s lack of recourse. Telbet is a crypto offshore product with no New Zealand dispute route. Punters choosing this brand need to be aware of the lack of local recourse.

Individuals in New Zealand considering a crypto offshore product might see Telbet as an overseas option lacking local dispute channels.

Alawin — an offshore brand with an 18+ minimum, and no New Zealand licence

Alawin accepts customers aged 18 or over only.

Financial outcomes for the punter are based on the offshore product’s base rate. The 18+ minimum is the operator’s minimum, not New Zealand’s, and Alawin provides an offshore catalogue that operates entirely outside the local regulatory framework.

Punters in New Zealand exploring offshore catalogues with an 18+ minimum are able to identify Alawin as a representative choice in the market.

FunBet — an offshore brand with a wide catalogue, and no New Zealand licence

FunBet’s sportsbook offers odds on football, ice hockey, American football, basketball, volleyball, tennis, rugby and baseball, with live betting and a bookmaker described as open 24/7. The catalogue is wider than TAB NZ’s, which is the marketing line the brand uses.

The cost structure for the punter reflects the offshore product’s base rate, with the wider catalogue as the marketing draw. FunBet is an offshore bookmaker that does not participate in the New Zealand harm-minimisation framework.

For a New Zealand punter evaluating offshore catalogues, FunBet provides an international scope outside local jurisdiction.

BetNinja — an offshore brand licensed in the Union of the Comoros, with no right to take New Zealand bets

BetNinja states that it is licensed to conduct online gaming operations by the Union of the Comoros. The Comoros licence is not recognised for New Zealand wagering, and no local support or protection reaches the brand.

Costs to the punter involve the offshore product’s base rate, with the Comoros regulator as the dispute body for any unresolved complaint. A punter who chooses BetNinja is choosing the Comoros-regulated product.

For a New Zealand punter reviewing Comoros-licensed offshore options, BetNinja operates as an overseas betting site without local complaints access.

22Bet — an offshore brand licensed in Curaçao, with a 21+ age notice on the site

22Bet’s address 22bet redirects to 22bet4u.com, and the site shows copyright for 2017-2026 and a 21+ age notice. The Curaçao licence (8048/JAZ, holder TechSolutions Group N.V.) is not recognised for local wagering. The 21+ notice is a Curaçao-honoured age floor, distinct from the local 18+ requirement.

Financial terms for the punter reflect the offshore product’s base rate, with the Curaçao regulator as the dispute body. A punter who chooses 22Bet is choosing the Curaçao-regulated product with the operator’s 21+ age floor. 22Bet does not offer the protections of the New Zealand regulatory environment.

For a New Zealand punter who wants an offshore product licensed in Curaçao, 22Bet is one option among several. The 21+ notice does not equal New Zealand protection.

How online betting in New Zealand adds up: the one question that decides the page

The comparison above answers one question. Is the punter choosing a New Zealand product or an offshore product? If the first, the choice is between TAB and Betcha, and the answer is whichever product shape the punter prefers. If the second, the choice is between offshore brands, and the answer is whichever product matches the punter’s catalogue and the punter’s read on the licence. The two choices are not the same question, because the New Zealand product carries the New Zealand framework and the offshore product does not.

The arithmetic is the same in both cases. The margin is what every price pays for, and the bonus’s headline is the smaller number. The walkthrough is the same in both cases: account opening, deposit, placing the bet, settlement, dispute route. The price is different at every step, and the punter’s job is to see both sides of each one.

The category “new bookmakers in New Zealand” is thin on purpose, because the law makes it thin. The category “best online betting sites in New Zealand” is split in two by the law, and the split is the page’s only ranking.

Frequently asked questions about online betting in New Zealand

How can I bet on the Melbourne Cup online?

The Melbourne Cup is a racing event under New Zealand law, so the only lawful online route is the TAB NZ product — TAB or Betcha, both operated by TAB NZ under section 74AAA of the Racing Industry Act 2020. Same Race Multis, Quinella, Exacta, Trifecta and First Four are all available through the TAB NZ app on Cup Day. Offshore brands taking bets on the Melbourne Cup from people in New Zealand are doing so against New Zealand law, with no New Zealand complaints route behind the bet.

How do I bet on horses online?

The procedure is the same as betting on any sport: open an account with a New Zealand-accepting brand (TAB NZ or Betcha, the only lawful options), deposit through the operator’s accepted methods, place the bet from the racing menu, and wait for settlement through the wallet. TAB NZ’s racing product is deeper than most — Trackside live streaming, Blackbook, Jockey Challenge and Same Race Multis — because the Entain partnership invested in the racing product specifically.

How do I bet on Lotto online?

Lotto is not sports betting or racing betting under the Racing Industry Act 2020; it sits under MyLotto, run by Lotto NZ, and is not part of the TAB NZ product. The online betting sites reviewed on this page do not take Lotto bets; they take sports and racing bets. A punter asking how to bet Lotto online is asking about a different product, and the answer is the MyLotto site, not the brands reviewed here.

Which bookmaker may lawfully take sports and racing bets in New Zealand?

TAB NZ and Betcha — the two online brands of TAB NZ — are the only operators allowed to take online sports and racing bets from people in New Zealand under section 74AAA of the Racing Industry Act 2020, which took effect on 28 June 2025. Every other brand on this page is unlicensed in New Zealand, regardless of the licence it names, and is taking bets from New Zealand customers against New Zealand law.

How is the return on a bet worked out from the stake and the odds?

Return equals stake times odds. Net profit equals stake times (odds minus one). A $10 stake at decimal odds of $2.10 returns $21 ($10 stake plus $11 profit) if the bet wins. For a combination bet, the odds of the legs multiply into a single price — a four-leg multi at $2.10, $1.90, $2.50 and $3.00 returns $29.93 on a $1 stake, and nothing at all if any one leg loses.

What is the bookmaker’s margin and how can it be seen in the odds?

The margin is what the bookmaker keeps of every unit bet on a market, and it sits inside the price. For a market with three outcomes at $2.50 / $3.20 / $2.80, the payout share is 1 ÷ (0.40 + 0.3125 + 0.3571) = 93.5%, and the margin is 6.5%. A 5% margin means the operator keeps 5 cents of every dollar bet on that market, on average. A punter comparing two prices on the same selection is comparing two margins.

Created by the ”Nzgridironbets” editorial team.