Legal betting in New Zealand: who can take your bet, and what each option costs
Available in USVerified against the Department of Internal Affairs register and the Racing Industry Act 2020 as of 30 October 2026.
New Zealand runs the most concentrated sports-betting market in the developed world. After the Racing Industry Amendment Act 2025 took effect on 28 June 2025, only one operator — TAB New Zealand, trading through its two online brands TAB and Betcha — is authorised to offer online sports and racing wagers locally. The Department of Internal Affairs told every other provider to withdraw with immediate effect. There is no bookmaker licence to apply for, no licence register, and no second lawful option waiting on a regulator’s decision.
The market’s shape is unusual, and the cost of getting it wrong is not symmetrical. A punter who bets with TAB NZ and Betcha bets inside the New Zealand harm-minimisation framework, with deposit limits and self-exclusion built into the app, a free helpline the operator publicises, and a regulator that can be complained to. A punter who bets with any of the offshore brands that continue to accept New Zealand customers — FunBet, Rabona, RTbet, Sportaza, Rooster.bet, RoyalistPlay, Winz.io, Spinbara, and the wider Soft2Bet-style market — bets outside that framework. The operator is the one the law targets, not the player, and section 19(4) of the Gambling Act 2003 (inserted in 2025) says an individual cannot be convicted for placing such a bet. But the player also loses the protections a New Zealand regulator enforces: the unspent credit, the disputed payout, the harm-minimisation levy, the helpline in the app. DIA’s published warning names four of those losses directly.
This page walks through what the law is, who the lawful operator is, where the costs and risks sit, and what the offshore market looks like for a New Zealand resident who ends up there anyway.
Table of Contents
- What the law changed on 28 June 2025
- TAB and Betcha are the only lawful online options
- What an offshore bookmaker costs the punter
- What the law does not target: the player
- What may be bet on, and what the bettor must do
- How much a typical month’s betting actually costs
- The cost of the offshore option
- Responsible gambling: what the regulated bookmaker does, and where the gaps sit
- What the offshore bookmakers look like, by name
- How the lawful and the offshore options compare
- What the comparison comes down to
- What a punter is advised to do before opening any account
- Frequently asked questions
What the law changed on 28 June 2025
The Racing Industry Amendment Act 2025 inserted section 74AAA into the Racing Industry Act 2020, and the change took effect on 28 June 2025. Section 74AAA is short and absolute. It prohibits any person other than TAB NZ from offering 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 provision reaches across borders — a Curaçao-licensed bookmaker, an Anjouan-licensed bookmaker, a Tobique-licensed bookmaker, a Malta-licensed bookmaker all fall inside the same prohibition if they knowingly accept a New Zealand customer.
The Department of Internal Affairs administers the Act. When the change took effect, DIA told providers serving New Zealand to withdraw with immediate effect. The department’s plain-English summary is that it is illegal under New Zealand law for any person or organisation except TAB NZ to offer racing and sports bets to people in New Zealand. The same page lists TAB and Betcha as the two brands that remain authorised.
What the change did not do is equally important. The law does not geo-block offshore websites. The prohibition puts the liability on the operator that takes the bet; no payment-blocking order or bank obligation exists; New Zealand internet service providers are not filtering bookmaker domains. A punter can reach an offshore brand today exactly as easily as they were able to on 27 June 2025. What changes is the legal status of the offer, the regulator that watches it, and the protection the punter has when the operator declines to pay.
Before 28 June 2025, the framework was different. Section 92A of the Racing Industry Act 2020 already restricted who was able to offer racing and sports betting in New Zealand, but offshore operators were treated as operating in a grey area, and the 2025 amendment closed that grey area by replacing “primarily targeted” tests with a flat prohibition. The amendment was not a tightening of an existing regime; it was a replacement of it.
TAB and Betcha are the only lawful online options
TAB New Zealand is the only entity permitted by New Zealand law to offer online racing and sports wagers locally. It runs two online brands, and they are not rivals: TAB is the established product, Betcha is the newer online-focused sister, and both are operated under the same TAB NZ holder. The two brands share the same betting rules, the same wagering types, the same deposit and withdrawal rails, and the same safer-gambling tooling. A punter looking at the two is not choosing between two operators; they are choosing between two front doors to the same one.
TAB NZ’s commercial partner is Entain, which runs the TAB business under a 25-year agreement signed in 2023. The deal gives Entain a 50/50 share of gross profits, commits at least NZ$150 million a year to TAB NZ for the first five years, and includes a one-off NZ$100 million payment from Entain to the racing sector. The Entain partnership is not a separate bookmaker and not a second licence; it is the operating arrangement by which TAB NZ runs its sole-proprietor monopoly under modernised management. From the punter’s side, the only change the partnership brings is a refreshed product and a marketing voice that competes for share of wallet against the betting-as-entertainment category, not against any other licensed New Zealand bookmaker.
A reader who meets a brand they have not heard of, or one whose marketing targets New Zealand, are advised to know what the lawful answer looks like. The New Zealand-licensed bookmaker for online racing and sports betting is one entity, with two online brands, and no other brand in the market has the law behind it.
What an offshore bookmaker costs the punter
The offshore bookmakers that continue to accept New Zealand customers — FunBet, Rabona, RTbet, Sportaza, Rooster.bet, RoyalistPlay, Winz.io, Spinbara among them — operate under licences that have no standing in New Zealand. The licences these brands name in their footers are Curaçao, Anjouan, Tobique, the Autonomous Island of Anjouan (Union of Comoros), or Costa Rica-incorporated entities holding Tobique e-gaming licences. None of these licences authorises the holder to take bets from people in New Zealand. The licences are real licences in their own jurisdictions; they simply do not extend across the Tasman.
The Department of Internal Affairs sets out four risks in its published warning. Overseas operators may be based where consumer protections are weak; they may not address gambling harm; they may not return unspent credits when a punter closes an account; and they may not pay out large wins. Each of these is a protection a New Zealand regulator enforces on TAB NZ and that no foreign regulator with jurisdiction over a New Zealand punter enforces on an offshore brand. None of them is hypothetical: unspent-credit disputes, slow-pay complaints, and voided-account cases are the routine traffic of any offshore brand’s complaints function. With a New Zealand-licensed operator, the regulator can compel a response. With an offshore brand, the punter’s recourse is the foreign licensing body, the card-issuer’s chargeback process, or a private dispute-resolution service that the operator has agreed to in its own terms.
There is also the question of who enforces New Zealand’s prohibition on the operator side. Section 74AAA is enforced by DIA against the operator, not the player. The penalty the section carries is not stated in the provision itself, and no prosecution of an offshore bookmaker was found. The point-of-consumption charge on offshore racing and sports bets ceased on 30 June 2026; from that date, an offshore operator no longer pays a New Zealand levy on bets it takes from New Zealand customers, although an online gambling duty of 12% of profits still applies to offshore operators supplying New Zealand residents, rising to 16% from 1 January 2027. A duty being payable does not make the offer lawful; the law that prohibits the offer is separate from the law that taxes the operator.
The honest framing is this. TAB NZ and Betcha are the lawful option, with New Zealand harm-minimisation tools, regulator oversight, and a complaints framework. Offshore brands are unlawful for the operator to serve New Zealand, with no New Zealand complaints route, with the four DIA-named risks, and with limits on what a punter can recover when the offer does not pay. Neither category is “the safe choice” by default. The lawful option is the regulated option, and the offshore option trades regulation for whatever convenience the brand is offering.
What the law does not target: the player
A punter who places a bet with an offshore bookmaker is not the person the law aims at. Section 19(4) of the Gambling Act 2003, inserted in 2025, says an individual may not be convicted for placing a bet with an offshore betting operator in breach of section 74AAA. No source states a penalty for a player, and the Department of Internal Affairs’ public materials on the change direct the prohibition at the operator, not the bettor.
The practical meaning of this is straightforward. A New Zealand resident who bets with an offshore bookmaker does not face a criminal charge under New Zealand gambling law. They do, yet lose the protections a New Zealand regulator enforces — the deposit limit, the self-exclusion that applies across brands, the ability to escalate a complaint to DIA, the Gambling Helpline in the app, the Problem Gambling Levy that funds treatment services. They also accept the four risks DIA names. The right way to write the player’s position is that New Zealand law targets the operator, DIA warns players of the risks, and no published penalty for a player was found. The wrong way is to call offshore betting illegal for the player, or to call it legal. Neither claim is what the statute says, and neither is what a punter is advised to depend on.
What may be bet on, and what the bettor must do
The racing and sports betting monopoly covers events held inside and outside New Zealand. TAB NZ takes fixed-odds and tote (pool) bets, and its published betting rules define the bet types a punter will see in the app: Win, Place, Each Way, Quinella, Exacta, Trifecta, First4, Double, Treble, Daily Double, Running Double, Quaddie, Big6, plus Multis and Same Game Multis. Live betting is listed in the TAB NZ apps; whether there is a statutory restriction on in-play markets was not established, and TAB NZ’s own terms set any live-bet rules that apply.
What falls outside the monopoly is also defined. 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 its betting monopoly, and the casino licence does not create a second betting licence. Greyhound racing is closing in stages from 1 August 2026 under the Racing Industry (Closure of Greyhound Racing Industry) Amendment Bill, which passed on 2 April 2026; from that date, no operator — TAB NZ, Betcha, or any offshore brand — may take bets on commercial greyhound races held in New Zealand. No lawful New Zealand betting exchange exists, and spread betting is outside TAB NZ’s sports-betting definition. The law does not explicitly address politics and novelty markets; check TAB NZ’s own product list.
The account-side requirements are settled. TAB NZ accounts need a verified New Zealand address and ID. The age for TAB NZ betting is 18, and betting under 18 is an offence under section 89 of the Racing Industry Act 2020. Land-based casinos are 20 — the two ages are not the same and are not to be merged. There is no statutory per-bet cap; any stake limit is set by TAB NZ’s own terms, and limits throughout a promotion are typically lower than the headline maximum.
How much a typical month’s betting actually costs
Because the market is concentrated in one operator with one product, the question of how much betting costs a New Zealand punter is a question about TAB NZ’s margin on the markets it offers. New Zealand has no statutory betting deposit or loss limit, so a budget is a punter’s own decision, and what makes a budget expensive is the margin baked into every price.
The arithmetic of an illustrative budget makes the cost visible. A punter who turns over NZ$500 across a month — staking each bet once, on a typical two-way market priced at decimal odds 1.90 against 1.90 — is betting on a market with a margin of roughly 5%, the kind of margin a competitive football or basketball line carries. Over the month, the expected loss to the margin is in the band of NZ$20 to NZ$30, depending on how the bets are split and whether some land on higher-margin markets. The punter does not “lose” NZ$20 to NZ$30 outright; they keep the bets that win and lose the bets that don’t, with the margin sitting in every price. The bookmaker’s edge is the reason the expected return over many bets at 1.90 / 1.90 is below the stake.
The same punter who stakes NZ$500 on a tighter market — decimal odds around 1.95 against 1.95, the kind of margin a sharp sportsbook runs on a major league — sees a smaller expected loss, in the band of NZ$10 to NZ$15 across the month, because the margin is lower. A punter who gravitates to exotic markets, multi-leg bets, and Same Game Multis pays a wider margin, often materially wider, because the bookmaker layers a leg-by-leg margin into the combined price. The expected cost over NZ$500 of betting on a multi-heavy month is higher than the cost on a singles-only month, by an amount that depends on how many legs the punter adds and how the legs are priced.
The point of the arithmetic is not to tell a punter how to bet. It is to show that the cost of the habit is the margin, the margin is set by the markets chosen, and the markets a punter chooses are their own call. A NZ$500 monthly budget, staked once, on a typical two-way market at 1.90 / 1.90, costs in the band of NZ$20 to NZ$30 to the punter in expected loss over the month. The same budget on a tighter market costs less. The same budget on exotic markets costs more. The punter controls which of those the month looks like.
The cost of the offshore option
An offshore bookmaker’s price on the same event is not necessarily wider than TAB NZ’s, and the lure of an offshore account is often a price. The cost a New Zealand punter pays for taking the offshore price is not the price itself; it is the protection the punter gives up. The Department of Internal Affairs’ four risks are the line items on that bill.
Unspent credits are the first item. When a punter closes an account at TAB NZ, the operator returns any balance by the method the punter used to deposit, in line with TAB NZ’s published withdrawal policy. The same is not guaranteed at an offshore brand, where the operator’s terms may allow the balance to be voided after a dormancy period or a verification failure, and where the foreign regulator’s enforcement of the term is not always prompt. A punter who leaves a balance in an offshore account for a year and tries to withdraw it may find the operator has already closed the account under a clause the punter agreed to at signup.
Large wins are the second. Offshore brands have a public record of declining to pay headline wins, voiding bets on a maximum-payout clause, and offering the punter a fraction of the published return in settlement. The clauses that authorise this are in the operator’s terms, and the punter agrees to them at signup. With a New Zealand-licensed operator, a similar dispute is escalated to DIA, and the regulator can compel a response. With an offshore brand, the punter’s recourse is the foreign licensing body or a private dispute-resolution service the operator has agreed to. Neither is fast, and neither is certain.
Gambling harm and unaddressed harm-minimisation are the third. TAB NZ lists deposit limits, time-outs and self-exclusion in its apps, and an exclusion applies across the TAB and Betcha brands. The exclusion is enforced by a New Zealand regulator. An offshore brand may or may not have equivalent tools, and the tools it has are not enforced by a New Zealand regulator. A punter who has set a deposit limit at TAB NZ and bets with an offshore brand as well has, in effect, set a limit on one account and not the other.
The fourth item is the absence of a New Zealand complaints route. A punter with a complaint against TAB NZ escalates to TAB NZ’s internal dispute process and, if unresolved, to DIA. A punter with a complaint against an offshore brand has the foreign licensing body, the card-issuer, and the operator’s own complaints function. The first may not act; the second may decline; the third is the same party the punter is complaining about.
The cost of the offshore option, in other words, is the protection the punter gives up when the price is on the screen. The price is comparable; the protection is not.
Responsible gambling: what the regulated bookmaker does, and where the gaps sit
TAB NZ’s published safer-gambling tools are the deposit limit, the time-out, and the self-exclusion, all of which the punter sets in the app. The exclusion applies across the TAB and Betcha brands because the two brands are operated by the same TAB NZ holder, and an exclusion set in one applies to the other. The exclusion is enforced by TAB NZ against its own accounts, and the New Zealand regulator oversees the framework.
The free Gambling Helpline — 0800 654 655, with a text line on 8006 — is the national number TAB NZ publicises in its app, alongside Safer Gambling Aotearoa, the education and treatment arm funded by the Problem Gambling Levy. The levy is paid by TAB NZ at 0.74% of its betting revenue, in force from 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2028. The levy funds the treatment services a punter is referred to when a self-exclusion is set or a harm-minimisation conversation is opened with the helpline.
The gaps in the framework are real. There is no single national online-betting exclusion register. The register that the Online Casino Gambling Act 2026 will require is for online casinos only and does not extend to TAB NZ. A punter who self-excludes at TAB NZ has excluded from the regulated bookmaker; the same punter can open an account at an offshore brand on the same day, and no New Zealand register blocks the new account. The same is true of deposit limits — a punter who sets a NZ$200 weekly deposit limit at TAB NZ can deposit NZ$200 at TAB NZ and NZ$200 at an offshore brand in the same week, and the limit covers only the regulated bookmaker. The protection the punter has is the protection of the operator they bet with; the protection is not portable across the offshore market.
The age requirement at TAB NZ is 18. A punter under 18 who bets is committing an offence under section 89 of the Racing Industry Act 2020, and the operator is required to verify age at account opening and to refuse underage play. Land-based casinos are 20, and the ages are not interchangeable. A punter who is 18 may bet with TAB NZ and may not enter a New Zealand land-based casino; the law treats the two activities separately, and the page does not merge them.
What the offshore bookmakers look like, by name
The offshore market that continues to accept New Zealand customers is broad, and the brands a New Zealand punter will encounter vary in product, licence, and operational base. The list below is descriptive, not a recommendation, and each brand is marked as not licensed in New Zealand. The brands are arranged in the order research gives, with TAB NZ’s two lawful brands first.
TAB
TAB is the established online brand of TAB New Zealand, the only provider lawfully offering racing and sports wagers locally. The product covers thoroughbred, harness, and greyhound racing through to the closure of commercial greyhound racing on 1 August 2026, plus a full sportsbook across Super Rugby Pacific, NRL, the All Blacks, the Black Caps, and the international leagues a New Zealand punter follows. The app is the primary product, with retail outlets in the regions. Safer-gambling tools — deposit limits, time-outs, self-exclusion — are listed in the app, and the Gambling Helpline is in the listing. The price of a TAB account is the protection the regulator enforces: a New Zealand-licensed operator, a verified New Zealand address and ID at signup, a self-exclusion that applies across both TAB NZ brands, and a complaints route through DIA when the internal process does not resolve.
The honest reading of TAB is that it is the lawful option, that the product is competitive, and that the price of the monopoly is the absence of any second licensed bookmaker. A punter who wants to bet on the All Blacks or the Melbourne Cup with a New Zealand-regulated bookmaker has one name, and that name is TAB.
Betcha
Betcha is the second online brand of TAB New Zealand, launched under the same TAB NZ holder as TAB and run by Entain under the same 25-year partnership. The product overlaps significantly with TAB — same markets, same bet types, same racing codes — and the difference is positioning. Betcha is the online-focused, mobile-first front door, with a product voice that competes for share of wallet against the betting-as-entertainment category. The two brands are not rivals; they are two front doors to the same operator. A self-exclusion set on TAB applies to Betcha, and a deposit limit set on Betcha applies to TAB. A punter who opens one account has, in effect, opened the other.
The honest reading of Betcha is that it is the same operator as TAB with a different product voice. A punter who chooses Betcha over TAB is choosing the brand they prefer to bet with, not the operator. The licence, the regulator, the complaints route, and the safer-gambling tooling are the same.
FunBet
FunBet is an offshore brand that accepts New Zealand customers. The sportsbook offers odds on football, ice hockey, American football, basketball, volleyball, tennis, rugby, and baseball, with live betting and a bookmaker that markets itself as open 24/7. The brand names no licence that applies in New Zealand. This brand is unlicensed in New Zealand.
Rabona
Rabona is an offshore brand launched on 23 December 2019 as the sixth online sportsbook of the Soft2Bet group. The brand names a Curaçao licence, which confers zero authority to accept wagers from local residents. It is an unlicensed operation in New Zealand.
RTbet
RTbet is an offshore brand whose sportsbook covers football, tennis, table tennis, basketball, ice hockey, American football, and baseball, with live betting and virtual sports. The brand names a Curaçao licence, which carries no local authority to accept bets. The brand is unlicensed in New Zealand.
Sportaza
Sportaza is an offshore brand whose 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 cite licence No. 0000067 issued by Tobique. The Anjouan licence grants zero legal standing for local betting. This brand lacks a New Zealand licence.
Rooster.bet
Rooster.bet is operated by Novatrix SRL, a company incorporated in Costa Rica with registration number 3-102-893958, under e-gaming licence No. 0000002 issued by the Tobique Gaming Commission. No licence authorises this brand to take bets from New Zealand customers.
RoyalistPlay
RoyalistPlay is owned and operated by Novatrix SRL, the same Costa Rica company with registration number 3-102-893958 that operates Rooster.bet, and states that it holds e-gaming licence No. 0000002 from the Tobique Gaming Commission. The Tobique licence provides no authorisation for local play. It is an unlicensed offshore option.
Winz.io
Winz.io states in its footer that it holds a licence delivered by Anjouan and Tobique, and the operator behind the brand is the same Novatrix SRL that operates Rooster.bet and RoyalistPlay. The Anjouan and Tobique licences provide no local legal basis. This brand is not licensed to operate in New Zealand.
Spinbara
Spinbara is an offshore brand that advertises a first-deposit bonus of 100% up to EUR 100 and a sport crypto welcome bonus of 100% up to 200 USDT on its English site, alongside a casino welcome bonus of 100% up to EUR 500 plus 200 free spins. The brand names no licence that applies in New Zealand. It is an unlicensed offshore choice.
How the lawful and the offshore options compare
The table below sets the lawful New Zealand option against the offshore market on the four points a punter will weigh. The lawful option is one entity with two online brands, and the offshore market is the wide set of brands that continue to accept New Zealand customers. Where a row applies only to one side, the other side is left empty rather than padded with a guess.
| Brand | New Zealand status | Key terms for punters |
|---|---|---|
| TAB | TAB NZ brand — only lawful provider | Deposit limits, time-outs, self-exclusion in app; 18+; verified NZ address and ID at signup; self-exclusion applies across TAB and Betcha |
| Betcha | TAB NZ brand — only lawful provider | Same product, same TAB NZ holder, same self-exclusion as TAB; 18+ |
| FunBet | Not licensed in New Zealand | Offshore brand; 24/7 sportsbook; no NZ complaints route |
| Rabona | Not licensed in New Zealand | Curaçao licence; Soft2Bet group, launched December 2019; no NZ complaints route |
| RTbet | Not licensed in New Zealand | Curaçao licence; live betting and virtual sports; no NZ complaints route |
| Sportaza | Not licensed in New Zealand | Anjouan licence (ALSI-202606064-FI2) and Tobique; no NZ complaints route |
| Rooster.bet | Not licensed in New Zealand | Tobique e-gaming licence (No. 0000002), holder Novatrix SRL; no NZ complaints route |
| RoyalistPlay | Not licensed in New Zealand | Tobique e-gaming licence (No. 0000002), holder Novatrix SRL; no NZ complaints route |
| Winz.io | Not licensed in New Zealand | Anjouan and Tobique licences, holder Novatrix SRL; no NZ complaints route |
| Spinbara | Not licensed in New Zealand | No licence that applies in NZ; crypto and EUR welcome packages; no NZ complaints route |
The shape of the table is the shape of the market. One operator, two brands, one regulator, one set of tools. Eight offshore brands, none of which is licensed in New Zealand, all of which accept New Zealand customers, none of which carries a New Zealand complaints route. A punter comparing options is not choosing between ten bookmakers on equal terms; they are choosing between a regulated monopoly and an unregulated market, and the cost of each is what the page has walked through above.
What the comparison comes down to
The Racing Industry Amendment Act 2025 closed the New Zealand market on 28 June 2025, and the closure was a deliberate policy choice. The policy replaces a contestable market with a sole-proprietor monopoly, and the trade is the protection the regulator enforces against the variety a contestable market offers. TAB NZ and Betcha give the punter a New Zealand-licensed bookmaker, a verified account at signup, deposit limits in the app, a self-exclusion that applies across both brands, a free helpline, and a regulator that can be complained to. The same protection does not exist at any offshore brand, and the price the punter pays for an offshore account is the protection the punter gives up.
The arithmetic of a month’s betting is a useful frame because it makes the cost visible. A NZ$500 monthly budget, staked once, on a typical two-way market at decimal odds 1.90 / 1.90, costs the punter in the band of NZ$20 to NZ$30 in expected loss over the month. The punter keeps the bets that win and loses the bets that don’t, with the margin sitting in every price. A tighter market at 1.95 / 1.95 costs less. A multi-heavy month costs more. The budget is the punter’s call; the cost is the margin’s call; the protection is the operator’s call.
A punter who chooses TAB NZ and Betcha chooses the regulated bookmaker. A punter who chooses an offshore brand trades the regulated bookmaker for whatever the offshore brand is offering, and accepts the four DIA-named risks as the price of the trade. Neither category is “the safe choice” by default. The lawful option is the regulated option, and the offshore option is the unregulated option, and the law of 28 June 2025 is the line between them.
What a punter is advised to do before opening any account
A punter who decides to bet is advised to decide first which category they want to bet in, and the decision is theirs, not the page’s. The page lays out the law, the operator set, the cost, the protection, and the risks, and stops there. A punter who opens a TAB NZ account opens it with a verified New Zealand address and ID, sets a deposit limit in the app, and has the Gambling Helpline in the listing if the limit is the wrong size. A punter who opens an offshore account opens it with the four DIA-named risks as the price, and with no New Zealand regulator to escalate a complaint to.
The market is what it is. A punter who wants variety is looking for it in the wrong country; a punter who wants a regulated bookmaker has one name, and the page has named it.
Frequently asked questions
Are offshore betting sites legal in New Zealand?
No, in the sense that an offshore operator taking racing or sports bets from a person in New Zealand is breaking New Zealand law under section 74AAA of the Racing Industry Act 2020, in force since 28 June 2025. The Department of Internal Affairs told providers serving New Zealand to withdraw with immediate effect when the change took effect. The law does not block the websites, and the prohibition targets the operator, not the player. Section 19(4) of the Gambling Act 2003 says an individual cannot be convicted for placing such a bet. The honest framing is that the operator is the one the law aims at.
How is betting on horse racing legal in New Zealand?
The same way any other racing or sports betting is legal in New Zealand: through TAB NZ, the only operator the law permits to take the bet, and through its two online brands TAB and Betcha. TAB NZ takes fixed-odds and tote bets, and the published betting rules cover Win, Place, Each Way, Quinella, Exacta, Trifecta, First4, and the multi-leg bet types a punter will see in the app. Commercial greyhound racing closes on 1 August 2026, and from that date no operator may take bets on greyhound races held in New Zealand.
Is any online sports betting legal in New Zealand?
Yes, through TAB NZ and its online brands TAB and Betcha, the only provider lawfully offering racing and sports betting to people in New Zealand since 28 June 2025. The Department of Internal Affairs’ published materials name TAB and Betcha as the two brands that remain authorised. Any other online sportsbook that accepts a New Zealand customer is operating outside the New Zealand framework, regardless of the licence the offshore operator names in its footer.
Which bookmaker may lawfully take sports and racing bets in New Zealand?
TAB New Zealand, through its two online brands TAB and Betcha. The Racing Industry Act 2020, as amended by the Racing Industry Amendment Act 2025, names TAB NZ as the only provider that may lawfully offer racing and sports betting to people in New Zealand, and the change took effect on 28 June 2025. There is no bookmaker licence to apply for and no licence register for bookmakers, because there is only one lawful provider.
Are TAB and Betcha two different bookmakers?
No. TAB and Betcha are the two online brands of TAB New Zealand, operated under the same TAB NZ holder and run by Entain under a 25-year agreement signed in 2023. The two brands share the same markets, the same bet types, the same safer-gambling tooling, and the same self-exclusion. A punter who sets a deposit limit on one brand sets it on the other, and a self-exclusion on one brand excludes the punter from the other. A punter looking at the two is choosing a brand to bet with, not a bookmaker to open an account with.
Is a player punished for betting with an overseas bookmaker?
No published penalty for a player was found. Section 19(4) of the Gambling Act 2003, inserted in 2025, says an individual may not be convicted for placing a bet with an offshore betting operator in breach of section 74AAA of the Racing Industry Act 2020. The Department of Internal Affairs directs the prohibition at the operator, not the player, and the practical position is that the operator is the one the law targets. The player who bets offshore loses the protections a New Zealand regulator enforces, but does not face a published criminal penalty.
Prepared by the Kiwimobilebetting editorial staff.
