Online gambling in New Zealand

Sports and racing monopoly

DIA states that online racing and sports betting is prohibited unless operated by TAB NZ. The domestic-provider position explicitly includes TAB’s Betcha brand.

Online-casino licensing transition

DIA’s provider page, updated 13 October, records an auction held from 29 September to 12 October. Eleven entities secured 15 rights to apply; the auction had 32 bidders and ten rounds, with a final NZD15 million price per licence. Successful bidding does not guarantee a licence, and no operating brand is certified by this entity list.

Unsuccessful providers must exit

Key date: 1 Dec 2026

The Act’s Schedule 1 transition applies to providers operating at commencement. A qualifying provider that applies under section 17 before 1 December 2026 may continue only until the earlier of the day after the Secretary notifies it of grant or refusal, or 1 June 2027. Otherwise the section 9 prohibition applies from 1 December; advertising remains prohibited.

Auction entities are not granted-licence evidence

The checked DIA provider page names eleven successful auction entities and still describes approved brands and the public licence register as future licensing outputs. The checked public bodies do not establish an individual granted online-casino licence or an approved consumer brand. A right to apply must not be used as positive licence evidence.

The casino framework is enacted, with staged implementation

Key date: 1 May 2026

The Online Casino Gambling Act 2026 generally commenced on 1 May 2026, subject to the specific later commencements in section 2. A forecast for the licensed regime to operate in 2027 does not mean the Act is still a Bill, and commencement of the framework is not a licence grant to an operator.

Poker is included in the online-casino transition

Section 5 expressly includes casino table gambling such as poker in the definition of online casino gambling. The same licensing framework and qualifying-provider transition therefore apply to covered online poker. This does not certify a poker brand, platform or individual licence, or turn an auction right into permission to operate.

Casino licences do not open protected lottery products

Sections 9 and 19 exclude gambling that is substantially similar to and likely to compete with a protected New Zealand lottery, and betting on its outcome, from the casino licence route. Section 5 defines the protected products as standard lotto, lotto powerball and lotto strike. This is not a permission for every lottery format.

Licensed online-casino minimum age

Section 38 requires a licensed operator to take all reasonable steps to ensure that a person participating on its platform is at least 18. This is the licensed online-casino rule, including covered poker; it does not establish that a current transition provider has passed age-control assessment.

TAB betting has an 18-year threshold

Section 89 makes betting by a person under 18, and making a bet on behalf of a person under 18, offences. The casino reform does not replace this separate racing and sports-betting framework.

Physical casino age is different

Gambling Act 2003 section 303 sets a 20-year threshold for participating in casino gambling or entering the gambling area of a physical casino. That venue rule must not be substituted for the separate licensed online-casino age of 18.