KIWI online casinos for Real Money

Gambling was first legalised in 1835, although technically, it only constituted horse racing betting. Thanks largely to the protestant population, gambling was outlawed in 1881, and it wouldn’t be until 1932 that some form of accepting gambling game would return. In 1932, New Zealand authorised its first lottery, which was state-run. A second lotto would emerge (the Golden Kiwi Lotto) in 1961 before horse and greyhound racing were finally made legal once more in 1971.

In 1977, New Zealand decided that gambling businesses were to be permitted, and a new lottery emerged in 1987. Finally, the Casino Control Act of 1990 firmly legalised land-based casino gambling. By 2002, six casinos had emerged in the country. What about online gambling, though? This is where things get tricky.

In 2003, the rapid growth of the online gambling industry saw New Zealand create the Gambling Act of 2003. This effectively outlawed gambling at remote (offshore) casinos and betting sites. Precious little legislation has been introduced since. However, we must stress that online lottery and online sports betting games are deemed legal.

Curiously, the legality of various parts of New Zealand’s Gambling Act have been tested in courts of law. It was found that while hosting gambling games for New Zealanders was illegal; this was only if any element of hosting the enterprise was conducted by New Zealanders or present in New Zealand. A proper remote, offshore, and foreign casino would easily skirt these laws by not hiring New Zealanders and not being based there – many have done just that.

Furthermore, it was determined that it is not illegal for New Zealanders to bet at any offshore casino that fits the criteria. This has seen an influx in sites catering to kiwis, while New Zealanders have been keen to bet on pokies at foreign sites. The New Zealand government doesn’t want to be seen as rocking the boat, so they haven’t made any changes to the Gambling Act. They seem to be content with the status quo.

There are four types of gambling licenses available in New Zealand. Class 1 refers to social gambling; Class 2 is reserved for charity and fundraising; Class 3 is for gambling games with prizes worth more than NZ$ 5,000, while Class 4 relates to gambling machines, known as pokies.

The Department of Internal Affairs is the national regulatory body that keeps tabs on licensees, while it is the New Zealand Gambling Commission that approves license applications and awards the gambling licenses themselves. The Lotto NZ and Lotteries Commission are exempt from this, as they have full control to run lottery and lottery-style games in the country.

Any betting site that has not obtained a license from these authorities (so, none of them) is technically illegal. However, as we have already established, it is not illegal to play at these sites as they don’t properly break New Zealand’s gambling laws. New Zealanders are, therefore, technically free to play at most worldwide online casinos and sportsbooks.

New Zealanders bet on just about anything and everything, and they have ample resources to do so, as most offshore casinos accept them. Slots are known as pokies in New Zealand, and these generally tend to appear in number at NZ-friendly online casino sites. At the same time, live dealer games and RNG table games are also popular with players in New Zealand. New Zealanders have a soft spot for betting on sports such as rugby, too.

New Zealand doesn’t have any specific companies that are notable for producing online casino games. Software providers do produce sports betting software, but they seldom tend to offer their services outside of their homeland. Fortunately, most of the offshore casinos that cater to New Zealanders feature games from many of today’s leading providers, including NetEnt, Pragmatic Play, Playtech and more.

New Zealand doesn’t license and regulate online casinos. Therefore, all the casinos a kiwi can join are those based offshore. These are the same casinos that, in theory, anybody can register and play at. However, there are one or two offshore casinos that specifically target New Zealanders (without breaking New Zealand’s gambling laws), and these are arguably more favourable, as they offer toll-free localised support, payment methods and the NZD currency.