What a promotion in New Zealand actually pays, and what it takes

Updated October 2026

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Online sports and racing betting in New Zealand now runs through a single licensed channel, and that single channel shapes what every “free bet” and “boost” on a New Zealand punter’s screen is actually worth. Two brands, TAB and Betcha, sit inside the same operator group, and the rest of the offers any reader has seen advertised belong to offshore bookmakers with no right to take a bet from a person in New Zealand. The comparison below ranks ten of those brands by the same yardstick, treats the two lawful brands first, and shows where each promotion’s real value sits once the maths is done.

Data current as of 30 October 2026, checked against the Department of Internal Affairs public register and the Racing Industry Act 2020 as amended.

The shape of the New Zealand market in 2026

New Zealand’s online betting market is not a market in the usual sense. Since section 74AAA of the Racing Industry Act 2020 took effect on 28 June 2025, 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 unlicensed providers to withdraw with immediate effect, and the law places liability on the offshore operator rather than on the bettor: section 19(4) of the Gambling Act 2003 says an individual may not be convicted for placing a bet with an offshore operator in breach of section 74AAA. New Zealand does not block bookmaker sites. The result is a single lawful online channel, plus a long tail of offshore brands whose ads still reach New Zealand readers and whose offers have no statutory frame in this country at all.

TAB NZ runs the channel under a 25-year operating partnership signed with Entain in 2023. Entain operates the platform and the apps, and the two companies split gross profits 50/50; at least NZ$150 million a year flows to TAB NZ for the first five years, with Entain having pledged a separate one-off NZ$100 million payment to the racing sector. The two online brands — TAB and Betcha — sit on the same rails: the same licence, the same customer due diligence, the same self-exclusion register, the same account rules. They are not competitors. They are two products over the same roof.

That single roof is what governs every promotion a New Zealand reader sees. There is no New Zealand rule on bonus size or wagering terms; the terms that matter are the ones TAB NZ publishes in its own conditions. Where the operator’s marketing borrows words from a wider industry — “free bet”, “bonus cash”, “boosted odds”, “risk-free” — those words have whatever meaning TAB NZ’s small print gives them, and the small print is the page. “Offshore welcome offers are not recommended” is the regulator’s own line in its public warnings, and the reason sits in the next sections.

The legal frame: one operator, one rule

The Racing Industry Amendment Act 2025 inserted section 74AAA, and the change took effect on 28 June 2025. The Gambling Act 2003, the Racing Industry Act 2020 and the Online Casino Gambling Act 2026 form the rest of the relevant frame, but the casino law does something narrow: it licenses online casino gambling only. TAB New Zealand holds the right to apply for an online casino licence, but that right does not extend the betting monopoly and it does not open a second door for sports or racing wagers.

The Department of Internal Affairs is the regulator. It monitors compliance with the betting prohibition under section 92A of the Racing Industry Act 2020, it advised the offshore providers to withdraw in 2025, and it warns players that overseas operators may sit in jurisdictions with minimal consumer safeguards, may not return unspent credits and may not pay out large wins. There is no licence register for betting, because there is only one lawful provider, and there is no application route for a second one.

Tax plays a different role than a reader might expect. Recreational gambling winnings are generally not taxable for the player under Inland Revenue guidance, and prize money from TAB horse, dog and trotting races is not taxable. A person who bets as a business is a different case. TAB NZ pays a Problem Gambling Levy of 0.74% in force from 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2028. Offshore operators supplying New Zealand residents pay online gambling duty of 12% of profits since 1 July 2024, rising to 16% from 1 January 2027, but a duty being payable does not make the offer lawful. The point-of-consumption charge on offshore racing and sports bets ceased on 30 June 2026, so a duty still paid today is a gambling-duty figure, not a sign of legality.

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 closure removes a tote product rather than opening one.

What a New Zealand promotion can and cannot say

The Advertising Standards Authority’s Gambling Advertising Code governs how betting ads behave. Ads must not target children (under 14) or young people (14 to under 18) and the test is the audience: where accurate data exists, 25% or more of the audience in context counts as significant. Ads must not encourage harm and must be truthful, with terms available. The Code does not impose a “whistle-to-whistle” ban on broadcast advertising the way the United Kingdom does, and it does not cap the size of a promotion. The cap that exists — a NZ$100 / 200% inducement ceiling — sits in the 2026 online casino law and applies to licensed online casinos, not to betting promotions.

The practical effect is that a TAB NZ bonus bet is described in whatever terms TAB NZ sets, and the only constraint on the wording sits in the ASA Code and in the consumer law that requires advertising to be truthful. Offshore brands advertising into New Zealand through a global marketing site are not policed by the ASA in the same way: the ASA’s reach stops at ads targeted at a New Zealand audience, and the offshore brand’s terms are the only terms a New Zealand reader has. That is the gap the regulator warns about.

Safer gambling in New Zealand

The minimum age for betting in New Zealand is 18; betting under 18 is an offence under section 89 of the Racing Industry Act 2020. Land-based casino entry sits at 20 — a different permit, a different floor, and one the page never merges with the betting age. TAB NZ accounts require a verified New Zealand address and ID, and that is the same at both brands.

TAB NZ lists three safer-gambling tools in its app: deposit limits, time-outs and self-exclusion. The exclusion is shared across TAB and Betcha, so a punter who excludes on one cannot simply reopen on the other. The terms on the bonus bets run alongside these tools; a bonus bet does not put a deposit limit out of reach, and the small print of any promotion remains visible to a punter who has chosen to step back from betting.

Help beyond the operator sits in two places. The free Gambling Helpline is 0800 654 655, with a text line at 8006, both run as a 24/7 service. Safer Gambling Aotearoa is the public-facing programme that the levy funds. There is no single national online-betting exclusion register: the register the casino law will require is for online casinos only, and a punter who has self-excluded through TAB NZ has self-excluded through one operator rather than through the New Zealand market. The offshore brands in the comparison offer their own self-exclusion tools under their own house rules, and the harm-minimisation framework of the regulator does not reach them.

How a betting promotion is built, and what the words hide

Three terms a reader meets in nearly every promotion need picking apart, and the three of them are what decide what the offer is actually worth.

A “free bet” is a stake the operator credits the punter with, and a winning free bet usually pays the profit only — the stake itself is not returned. The TAB NZ term for this is “Bonus Cash”: Bonus Cash can be split across multiple bets, with a Mega Multi bonus of up to NZ$50 in Bonus Cash when a multi of four or more legs falls short by a set number of legs. The important point is the one the marketing never says out loud. A NZ$50 Bonus Cash bet that wins at $3.00 returns the $100 profit only; the NZ$50 is gone. The punter has effectively placed a NZ$50 bet at no personal cost, but the bet is worth NZ$50 × ($3.00 − 1) = NZ$100 only if the bet lands. The expected value is lower than that headline number, because the market keeps a margin, and the section below puts a number on it.

A “boosted odds” offer raises the price of a selection for a stake that the punter has paid for in cash. The boost is real, but it applies to the price of one bet, and the comparison price on the same market elsewhere on the same app is the yardstick. Boosted odds in a multi-leg parlay often look more generous than they are, because each leg’s margin compounds across the combined bet.

A “risk-free” bet is usually a free bet that the operator refunds as Bonus Cash if the bet loses, and a refund in Bonus Cash is not a refund in cash. The word “risk-free” promises the punter nothing is lost; what the punter actually gets back on a loss is a stake that has its own wagering rules and is not paid back with a win. The arithmetic for that case is the same as for any other free bet.

The wider point sits one level up. A bookmaker’s margin sits inside every price, and the offer on top of the price does not change the price’s edge. A boosted odds offer of $5.00 on a runner the rest of the market has at $4.50 is a real improvement, but a “risk-free” first bet at a $1.90 / $1.90 line is still a bet on a market that returns 1 / (1/1.90 + 1/1.90) = 0.95 in payout per $1 wagered and keeps 5% as margin. The boost is on the headline, not on the edge.

What a NZ$50 free bet is worth at a 1.90 / 1.90 market

Take a Bonus Cash stake of NZ$50 on a two-way market priced 1.90 / 1.90. The market’s payout share is 1 / (1/1.90 + 1/1.90) = 0.95, so the margin is 5%. A winning free bet pays NZ$50 × (1.90 − 1) = NZ$45 in profit, and the stake is not returned. The expected value of the free bet, before the market margin, is NZ$50 × (1.90 − 1) / 1.90 × 1 = NZ$23.68; the market’s 5% margin lowers the expected value to NZ$50 × (1.90 − 1) / 1.90 × 0.95 = NZ$22.50. So the offer is worth somewhere in the NZ$22 to NZ$24 range on average across many bets, conditional on the punter staking the full Bonus Cash on one selection at 1.90 and the market holding its 5% margin.

Two caveats pin the figure down. First, the calculation assumes the punter uses the full NZ$50 as a single stake. Splitting it into smaller bets does not change the expected value but does change the variance, and a punter who places ten NZ$5 bets at the same edge sees the same average return with a wider spread of outcomes. Second, the calculation assumes the price the punter takes matches the price research used. A 1.90 / 1.90 line on a Two-Way market is an example, not a quoted TAB NZ price; the actual edge on the bet a punter places is the edge of that bet, and the only honest comparison a punter can make is between the boost and the un-boosted price on the same selection in the same app at the same minute.

The NZ$22 to NZ$24 number is a statistical estimate, not a guaranteed outcome. The punter’s actual return on a single NZ$50 Bonus Cash bet at 1.90 is either NZ$45 (win) or NZ$0 (lose). The estimate is the average across many such bets at that price, and it is the right figure to compare a free bet to a cash-back offer or to a boosted-odds token at the same stake.

The comparison: ten brands rated by the same yardstick

The set runs in two halves. TAB and Betcha sit at the top because they are the only two brands that may lawfully take a bet from a person in New Zealand. The other eight are offshore brands that do not hold that right; they are listed because New Zealand readers meet them, and they are rated against the same criteria as the lawful pair so the difference is visible. None of the offshore brands is recommended for use from New Zealand.

The first two rows of that table are not comparable to the rest on the licence line, and they are not meant to be. The two lawful brands are the only channel the regulator recognises; the eight below are channels a New Zealand reader can reach but is not supposed to bet with from inside the country. The promotion column is what the operator’s own terms state on the day research captured the page; it is not a quoted price and it is not a recommendation to claim.

A column worth noticing for what it does not contain. New Zealand-targeted terms, in New Zealand dollars, with New Zealand safer-gambling tools linked, are present only on the two TAB NZ rows. The eight rows below quote bonuses in euros or USDT, on English-language global sites, with no New Zealand customer journey attached. That is the gap the regulator’s “minimal consumer safeguards” warning names, and it shows up in the table before it shows up in the prose.

The two brands that may lawfully take a New Zealand bet

TAB — the longest-standing online brand of TAB NZ

TAB sits on the same operator licence as Betcha, with the same 18+ age floor, the same verified New Zealand address requirement, and the same self-exclusion register. The product range is the broadest of any New Zealand-facing bookmaker: fixed-odds and tote bets, racing codes (thoroughbred, harness and greyhound, with greyhound racing closing in stages from 1 August 2026), Same Race Multis, Same Game Multis, one-tap Popular Multis, and a Place Extra option that lets punters back runners to finish up to 10th in selected races. The safer-gambling toolkit — deposit limits, time-outs and self-exclusion — is in the app, and the Gambling Helpline and Safer Gambling Aotearoa are linked from it.

The promotion the brand lists to new customers is the Bonus Cash structure. New customers can receive Bonus Cash that can be split across multiple bets, with a Mega Multi bonus of up to NZ$50 in Bonus Cash when a multi of four or more legs falls short by a set number of legs. The split-ability is the practical feature: a punter is not forced to stake the full Bonus Cash on one selection. The Mega Multi bonus is an accumulator insurance — a multi that falls one leg short of the threshold still pays something — and the up-to NZ$50 figure is the ceiling on what the bonus returns when it pays. The terms and conditions attached to the offer sit in the app and on the operator’s site, and the small print is what defines the eligible markets, the minimum odds per leg and the deadline.

TAB is the right starting point for a New Zealand punter because the offer is in the same currency, on the same platform, under the same self-exclusion register as everything else the punter does. The Mega Multi bonus is a partial refund in Bonus Cash, not a refund in cash, so the figure above — NZ$22 to NZ$24 expected on a NZ$50 free bet at 1.90 / 1.90 — is the right kind of number to compare it to. The verdict: the brand is the only lawful online channel, the promotion is in New Zealand dollars under New Zealand safer-gambling rules, and the cost of the offer to the punter is the market margin it does not remove.

Betcha — the second TAB NZ brand, built for a younger app audience

Betcha is the newer TAB NZ app and the second of the two brands the law names. The licence is the same TAB NZ licence, the customer due diligence is the same, the 18+ age floor and the ID checks are the same, and the self-exclusion register is shared with TAB. The product is built around the multi: a Multi Builder that lets punters build multi bets, copy trending multis and track live legs, with a new multi-grid building Same Game Multis. The app carries a 17+ App Store age rating, lists Safer Betting tools in-app and links the free 24/7 Gambling Helpline on 0800 654 655.

The promotion the brand lists is the daily Toolbox — a set of odds boosts and insurance tools for bets that do not land — alongside a Bet Social section where punters chat, follow tipsters and share bets or pools, and a Playbook with tips and match analysis. The Toolbox’s insurance tools work the same way the Mega Multi bonus works at TAB: a bet that almost lands returns a smaller Bonus Cash rather than nothing, and the Bonus Cash is not paid back with the win.

The brand is the right fit for a punter who lives in the app, follows the multi-market and likes the social layer. It is the wrong fit for a punter who wants a deep racing product — TAB’s racing catalogue is wider, and the Place Extra option sits on TAB rather than Betcha. The verdict: the brand is one of the two lawful online channels, the offer is the same kind of bonus structure as TAB’s in the same currency under the same self-exclusion register, and the bettor pays the same market margin on the selections they bet on.

The eight offshore brands

Rooster.bet

Rooster.bet is operated by Novatrix SRL, a company incorporated in Costa Rica, and names an e-gaming licence from the Tobique Gaming Commission, No. 0000002, as its authorisation. The licence gives no right to take bets from people in New Zealand: section 74AAA of the Racing Industry Act 2020 reserves that right to TAB NZ, and the Tobique framework is not a New Zealand framework. The site’s terms of service are the only terms a New Zealand reader has, and the harm-minimisation framework of the Department of Internal Affairs does not reach the brand.

The brand does not publish a New Zealand-targeted welcome offer. What it does offer is what the global site lists in its own terms, in its own currency, under its own house rules. The Department of Internal Affairs warns that overseas operators may not return unspent credits and may not pay out large wins, and the brand’s terms are the only place a punter finds out whether that warning applies.

This brand, like other offshore operators, is reachable from New Zealand but does not hold a New Zealand licence; the only recourse on a dispute is the Tobique framework rather than the New Zealand regulator. A New Zealand punter who opens an account is betting with an operator the law does not recognise and the regulator does not reach.

Spinbara

Spinbara’s English-language site advertises a first-deposit bonus of 100% up to EUR 100, a sport crypto welcome bonus of 100% up to 200 USDT, and a casino welcome bonus of 100% up to EUR 500 plus 200 free spins. The site is a global-facing brand with no New Zealand-targeted version, and the licence line on the operator’s own terms is not a New Zealand one.

A 100% first-deposit bonus up to EUR 100 is a cash bonus, not a free bet, and the wagering terms that come with it are the terms that decide what the bonus is actually worth. The plan does not name a wagering factor, an eligible market or a minimum price, and the operator’s own bonus page is the only place those numbers live. A punter who sees “100% bonus” on a global site must read the wagering terms before claiming, and the right comparison is not to another brand’s headline but to the brand’s own turnover and minimum-price rules.

Like other offshore sites, this brand is unlicensed in New Zealand; the offer is in euros and USDT rather than in New Zealand dollars, and the wagering terms behind the headline decide what the bonus pays. The TAB NZ Mega Multi bonus is in New Zealand dollars under New Zealand safer-gambling rules; this one is not.

Sportaza

Sportaza is an offshore bookmaker with an Anjouan licence (ALSI-202606064-FI2), which is not a New Zealand licence and gives no right to take bets from people in New Zealand. The features the operator’s terms highlight are functional: cash out before settlement, a Bet Builder where one void selection voids the whole betslip, multiples, Asian lines and interval markets in 1, 5, 10 or 15 minute ranges. The site is a global-facing brand, with no New Zealand-targeted offer.

The Bet Builder is the feature a reader notices first, and the rule is the one to read: one void leg voids the whole slip, so a Same Game Multi on TAB and Betcha — where a void leg drops the leg rather than the slip — is the more forgiving product for the punter who wants a multi on one match. The cash-out feature is the feature a punter reaches for when a bet has gone well, and the price the cash-out offers is the price the operator is willing to lock in; the punter’s edge is the difference between the cash-out price and the live price of the same selection.

This brand operates without a New Zealand licence, and the New Zealand harm-minimisation framework does not reach the account. A punter who wants a Bet Builder and Same Game Multis under New Zealand rules has both at Betcha.

22Bet

22Bet is a Curaçao-licensed bookmaker (licence 8048/JAZ, holder TechSolutions Group N.V.) and is not licensed in New Zealand. The brand’s English-language site lists more than 30 market types per event, including 1X2, Double Chance, totals, both teams to score, correct score and HT-FT, with tennis game, set and handicap markets on the tennis side. The depth of the market is the feature; the breadth is what a New Zealand punter notices on first click.

The market depth is not the same as a license to take a New Zealand bet, and the operator’s house rules are the only terms the punter has. The Department of Internal Affairs’ warning — that overseas operators may not return unspent credits and may not pay out large wins — is the relevant frame.

This offshore brand is not licensed in New Zealand, and the recourse on a dispute is Curaçao rather than the Department of Internal Affairs. TAB’s racing catalogue is narrower on exotic bet types but is the only one operating under New Zealand law.

Thunderpick

Thunderpick is a Curaçao-licensed operator (OGL/2024/677/0722, holder Paloma Media B.V.) and is not licensed in New Zealand. The brand is esports-first — CS2, League of Legends, Dota 2 and Valorant — and the sportsbook offers a cash-out feature with markets from the Champions League to the NFL. The English-language site advertises a 100% deposit bonus up to EUR 600 and highlights crypto for fast deposits, with other payment methods also available.

A 100% deposit bonus up to EUR 600 is a cash bonus, not a free bet, and the wagering terms behind the headline decide the offer’s real value. The plan does not name a wagering factor, eligible market or minimum price for this brand. Crypto deposits are flagged as fast on the operator’s site; the regulatory frame for crypto betting in New Zealand is not established, and TAB NZ’s terms are the only ones a New Zealand punter can read against a New Zealand rule set.

Like others in this offshore group, this brand lacks a New Zealand licence, and the esports-first product is not backed by New Zealand protections. A punter who wants esports and a New Zealand licence has TAB’s sportsbook with the lawful-channel status; the depth of the esports market on the offshore side is wider, and the cost of the wider market is the New Zealand protections the offshore brand does not provide.

Glorion

Glorion is an offshore brand with no licence that applies in New Zealand and no New Zealand customer journey attached. The site lists pre-match and live betting, virtual sports, horse racing and esports, with markets grouped into popular, niche, indoor and outdoor sports plus entertainment events such as award shows and elections. The breadth is the feature; the New Zealand frame is absent.

A market on an award show or an election is a novelty market, and the New Zealand position on novelty markets is not established. A punter who places such a bet on an offshore brand has the operator’s own house rules as the only terms, and the Department of Internal Affairs does not reach the brand.

The verdict: the brand is reachable from New Zealand but not licensed in New Zealand, the market catalogue is broad across sports and entertainment, and the New Zealand regulator’s warnings on minimal consumer safeguards apply. TAB NZ’s market catalogue does not extend to award shows and elections; that is the cost of the lawful channel.

Golden Panda

Golden Panda is an offshore brand with no licence that applies in New Zealand and no New Zealand customer journey attached. The site offers a sportsbook with esports and virtual sports, plus casino, live casino, crash games, rewards, cashback, a VIP Club, Golden Goals and Prediction Markets. The product mix is the feature, and the wider the mix, the further the brand sits from the New Zealand frame.

Prediction Markets on a global site are a US-style product, and the New Zealand position is not established. A punter who opens an account on the brand has the operator’s own terms as the only recourse, and the Department of Internal Affairs’ warnings apply.

The verdict: the brand is reachable from New Zealand but not licensed in New Zealand, the product mix is wide, and the New Zealand harm-minimisation framework does not reach the account. TAB’s product mix is narrower on novelty markets and wider on racing, with the lawful-channel status the offshore brand does not have.

Winz.io

Winz.io is an offshore brand with Anjouan and Tobique licences held by Novatrix SRL, neither of which gives a right to take bets from people in New Zealand. The site runs a sports betting bonus promotion with a separate Sportsbook T&C, Sports Rules and Bonus Terms and Conditions pages. The brand’s “no wagering” marketing is a different proposition to most welcome bonuses, but the New Zealand frame remains the same.

A sports betting promotion with a separate Bonus Terms page is a sign the operator publishes a wagering factor, eligible markets and minimum prices somewhere. The plan does not name those numbers for this brand. The Department of Internal Affairs’ warnings apply, and the brand’s terms are the only terms a New Zealand punter has.

The verdict: the brand is reachable from New Zealand but not licensed in New Zealand, the bonus structure is on a separate terms page, and the New Zealand regulator does not reach the account. TAB’s bonus structure is on the same platform as the rest of the punter’s betting and under the same self-exclusion register; this one is not.

What the comparison says once it is done

Read down the licence column and the gap is the whole story. Two rows say the brand is the only provider lawfully offering racing and sports betting to people in New Zealand; eight rows say the brand is not licensed in New Zealand, and the licence numbers next to those rows are Tobique, Anjouan, Curaçao licences that exist in the world the brand operates in but do not reach into New Zealand under section 74AAA.

Read across the promotion column and the gap shows up in the currency. New Zealand dollars on the two lawful rows, euros and USDT on most of the rest. The “100% bonus” headlines look similar across the column; the wagering terms behind them do not, and the wagering terms are the only thing that decides what the bonus is actually worth to the punter.

Read the column as a whole and the right comparison is not a choice between the ten. The right comparison is between the two lawful rows and everything else, with the offshore rows named for what they are — channels a New Zealand reader can reach, channels the regulator’s warnings apply to, channels with no New Zealand complaints route. The ten sit in a single ranking for a single reason: the New Zealand punter who opens an account on any of the eight offshore rows is betting with an operator the law does not recognise.

How a New Zealand punter reads a promotion

Three checks before claiming, in the order a sensible punter can run them.

First, the licence. Two brands — TAB and Betcha — are the only ones that may lawfully take a bet from a person in New Zealand. Every other brand in the comparison is offshore, and the offer on the offshore brand’s site is a global offer not framed for a New Zealand customer. The Department of Internal Affairs’ warnings apply, and the punter has no New Zealand regulator to complain to if the offer goes wrong.

Second, the bonus type. A free bet whose stake is not paid back with a win is worth roughly NZ$22 to NZ$24 on a NZ$50 stake at a 1.90 / 1.90 market, on average, before the market’s edge. A boosted-odds offer is worth the difference between the boosted price and the un-boosted price on the same selection in the same app, on the same minute. A cash bonus is worth whatever the wagering terms leave after the turnover and the minimum price are run through. The headline is the marketing; the terms are the offer.

Third, the safer-gambling frame. The TAB NZ app lists deposit limits, time-outs and self-exclusion, the exclusion is shared across both brands, and the Gambling Helpline is 0800 654 655 with a text line at 8006. The offshore brands in the comparison offer their own self-exclusion tools under their own house rules, and the New Zealand harm-minimisation framework does not reach them. A punter who has chosen to step back from betting has stepped back from one operator on the offshore rows rather than from the New Zealand market, and the step back is narrower than it looks.

What the page is for, and what it is not

The page is a way to read a promotion before claiming it. It does not name a winner, a “sure” bet or a system that wins, because nobody can know an outcome and a reader who acts on a predicted one loses real money on the page’s word. The page does not advertise any of the ten brands, and the offshore brands are listed for the comparison to be visible, not for the reader to sign up to.

The two lawful brands are the place a New Zealand punter reads a promotion in New Zealand dollars under New Zealand rules. The eight offshore brands are places where a New Zealand punter reads a global promotion in another currency under another regulator. The arithmetic in the middle of the article provides context: the NZ$22 to NZ$24 number on the NZ$50 free bet at 1.90 / 1.90, with the market’s 5% margin priced in, is the right kind of number to put next to any bonus the punter is weighing up.

Frequently asked questions

Are there New Zealand rules on the size or terms of a betting bonus?

No New Zealand rule on the size of a betting bonus or on its wagering terms was found. The terms that matter are the ones TAB NZ publishes in its own conditions, and the small print is what defines eligible markets, minimum prices and deadlines. The NZ$100 / 200% cap that exists is in the 2026 online casino law and applies to licensed online casinos only, not to betting promotions.

Why is the stake of a free or bonus bet not paid back with the winnings?

A free bet is a stake the operator credits the punter with, and a winning free bet pays the profit only. The TAB NZ term is Bonus Cash: a NZ$50 Bonus Cash bet that wins at $3.00 returns NZ$100 in profit and the NZ$50 stake is gone. The expected value, after the market margin, is roughly NZ$22 to NZ$24 on a NZ$50 Bonus Cash stake at a 1.90 / 1.90 market.

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

TAB NZ, through its two online brands TAB and Betcha, is the only provider lawfully offering racing and sports betting to people in New Zealand. Section 74AAA of the Racing Industry Act 2020 took effect on 28 June 2025, and the Department of Internal Affairs told unlicensed providers to withdraw with immediate effect.

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

For a single bet the return is stake × odds and the net profit is stake × (odds − 1). For a combination bet the odds of the legs multiply into one price, and the same formula applies on the multiplied price. A two-way market at 1.90 / 1.90 has a payout share of 1 / (1/1.90 + 1/1.90) = 0.95 and a margin of 5%.

Which tools for controlling play do TAB and Betcha offer, and who can be called for help?

TAB NZ’s app lists deposit limits, time-outs and self-exclusion, and the exclusion is shared across TAB and Betcha. The free Gambling Helpline is 0800 654 655 with a text line at 8006, both run as a 24/7 service, and Safer Gambling Aotearoa is the public-facing programme the levy funds.

What does a player lose by betting with a bookmaker that has no New Zealand licence?

A player who bets with an offshore brand has the operator’s own terms as the only recourse, the Department of Internal Affairs does not reach the account, and the regulator’s warnings on minimal consumer safeguards apply. New Zealand law targets the operator under section 74AAA; the player is not criminalised under section 19(4) of the Gambling Act 2003, but a dispute on a payout or a closed account has no New Zealand complaints route to follow.

Published by the Nodepositbetsnz team.