Mobile betting in New Zealand: who can take your bet, and what changed in 2025

Updated October 2026

Licensed

Available in US

Fast payouts

18+ Only

Two brands — TAB and Betcha — take sports and racing bets from a phone in New Zealand. That is the whole list, since an amendment to the Racing Industry Act 2020 came into force on 28 June 2025. Everything else a New Zealand punter meets on an app store — BetWinner, Megapari, 22Bet, SpinBetter, RTbet, Golden Panda, Winz, Rooster, FunBet, Alawin, BillyBets, Boomerang Bet, Thunderpick, Baji, Betninja, Paripesa — is an offshore brand with no permission to serve people in New Zealand, and none of the protections that go with a New Zealand licence. That sounds simple. The detail is what turns the simple claim into something a punter can act on: who runs TAB and Betcha, what the apps actually do, what a deposit limit and a self-exclusion look like inside them, and what an offshore brand can keep, refuse to return, or simply not pay out.

The short version of the rest of this page: the law comes first because the law decides who you can place a bet with at all; the responsible-gambling tools come next because they are the one thing a New Zealand punter gets from TAB and Betcha that an offshore bookmaker cannot match; bonuses and free bets come third because TAB NZ runs them and offshore brands run them too, and the same terms land differently inside the monopoly than outside it; the mobile and app block covers the experience itself; the ranking puts the lawful pair at the top by design, then sets out the offshore brands for what they are; and the overview at the end is what a reader who skipped to the bottom still needs to know.

Verified against the Department of Internal Affairs register and TAB NZ’s own terms on October 30, 2026.

The law that closed the market: section 74AAA, in force 28 June 2025

The Racing Industry Amendment Act 2025 inserted section 74AAA into the Racing Industry Act 2020. From 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 serving New Zealand to withdraw with immediate effect. There is no licence register for bookmakers because there is only one lawful operator; there is no application route for a second one.

TAB NZ’s only online brands are TAB and Betcha. The same betting rules apply on both. Both run on the TAB NZ wallet, both honour the same deposit limits, time-outs and self-exclusion, and an exclusion set on one applies across the other. They are not rivals, and they are not a “choice” the way a competitive market reads. They are one operator with two storefronts.

TAB NZ is run day-to-day by Entain under a 25-year agreement signed in 2023. Entain takes a 50/50 share of gross profits, TAB NZ receives at least $150 million a year for the first five years, and Entain pledged a one-off $100 million payment to the racing sector at signing. That structure is what pays the racing codes their cut of TAB NZ’s revenue, and it is the reason a New Zealand punter’s dollar does not disappear into a foreign parent. Offshore brands pay no such dividend into New Zealand racing; their New Zealand customers are a market, not a funding stream.

TAB NZ is also not the lawful online bookmaker by accident. The 2025 amendment removed any commercial case for a second provider. There used to be a point-of-consumption charge on offshore racing and sports bets that ran from 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2026, when it ceased. A tax being payable is not the same as the offer being lawful, and the offshore charge was always a way to capture revenue from a market the law did not authorise, not a route to authorise it. The 2025 amendment closed that route. A duty paid to Inland Revenue does not turn an unlawful offer into a lawful one, and any bookmaker whose New Zealand marketing copy leans on the duty is leaning on the wrong fact.

The Offshore Casino Gambling Act covers online casino games. The Online Casino Gambling Act 2026, when its operative provisions take effect, licences online casino gambling only; TAB NZ winning the right to apply for a casino licence does not extend the betting monopoly. Greyhound racing is closing in stages from 1 August 2026, and from that date offshore operators may not take bets on greyhound races either. Bets on virtual (computer-simulated) sport are treated by the 2026 casino law as casino gambling, not as TAB NZ sports betting. Whether esports betting falls inside section 74AAA is not established, and TAB NZ’s app does not list it. The page keeps to the bets a New Zealand punter can actually place.

What the law does not do

New Zealand does not geo-block offshore bookmaker sites. The law puts liability on the operator, not on the player. 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 published penalty for a player was found. The honest framing is the one DIA itself uses: the law targets the operator, DIA warns players of the risks, and a player who bets offshore is outside the New Zealand harm-minimisation framework whether or not the law can punish them for it.

That framing matters because the next obvious question — “is it illegal for me?” — has the wrong answer in either direction. Saying it is illegal invents a penalty that does not exist. Saying it is legal ignores DIA’s stated risks, the absence of a New Zealand complaints route, and the offshore brand’s freedom to apply its own house rules to a New Zealand customer. The truthful line is what DIA itself has put on the record: an offshore bookmaker is breaking New Zealand law by serving you, and you must read what that means before you fund an account.

Responsible gambling in the monopoly: what TAB NZ’s tools actually do

The 18-year age threshold is the floor, not the ceiling. Land-based casinos are 20; TAB NZ is 18; never merge the two. A TAB NZ account needs a verified New Zealand address and ID. The app’s store listing shows a 17+ rating — that rating follows the App Store’s content guidelines, not the betting age. Customers must be 18 or over to bet, and betting under 18 is an offence under section 89 of the Racing Industry Act 2020.

The tools inside the TAB NZ and Betcha apps are the ones the law expects, and they are the one thing a punter gets here that an offshore bookmaker cannot match without going out of its way to build it:

• Deposit limits, set by the punter, that cap how much can be paid in over a chosen period.
• Time-outs, which freeze the account for a chosen window.
• Self-exclusion, which closes the account for a longer period and applies across TAB and Betcha together because they share a wallet and a customer database.

The free Gambling Helpline — 0800 654 655 — and the text line 8006 are listed inside the apps, and Safer Gambling Aotearoa is the public face of the New Zealand harm-minimisation framework. TAB NZ also pays a Problem Gambling Levy of 0.74% (in force from 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2028), which funds treatment and prevention services.

The offshore picture, by contrast, is whatever the brand publishes in its terms and whatever the licence the licence it calls its own actually requires. Most of the brands on this page carry either no New Zealand-facing tools at all or the same tools in name only. A Curaçao licence, an Anjouan licence, a Tobique licence — none of them put a New Zealand punter inside a New Zealand harm-minimisation framework. The absence is not a defect in any one of them; it is the structural shape of an offshore offer. The punter’s recourse on a dispute is the offshore operator’s own complaints process and, beyond that, the offshore licence’s regulator — if it has one. None of those regulators answer to Inland Revenue, to the Advertising Standards Authority’s Gambling Advertising Code, or to the New Zealand Gambling Commission. The tools a New Zealand punter turns on in the TAB NZ app simply do not have an equivalent at most of the brands on the offshore list.

The honest wording for the responsible-gambling block is: TAB NZ and Betcha deliver the New Zealand harm-minimisation framework by default; offshore brands deliver whatever they choose to write in their terms, and what they choose is usually the minimum their own licence requires. The decision a punter is making is not between two safety tools; it is between the New Zealand framework and no framework.

Bonuses and free bets: what the offer really pays out

There are two reasons this block exists on a page about mobile betting in New Zealand. First, TAB NZ runs bonus-bets promotions, and the punter deserves to know what they pay back. Second, offshore brands market widely on bonuses, and the same words mean different things under a monopoly than under an unregulated offer.

What TAB NZ gives

TAB NZ publishes its offers inside the app and on its website, and the App Store listing describes the headline shapes rather than the numbers:

• New TAB NZ customers can receive Bonus Cash that can be split across multiple bets. The specifics — amount, qualifying bet, expiry — live in TAB NZ’s terms at the time of claim.
• The Mega Multi bonus pays up to $50 in Bonus Cash when a multi of 4 or more legs falls short by a set number of legs. The exact shortfall rule and the qualifying minimum odds are in the tab’s own terms.

Both promotions carry a “terms and conditions apply” line that is not boilerplate. The minimum odds on qualifying bets, the expiry window on Bonus Cash, the cap on a payout from Bonus Cash, and whether the Bonus Cash stake is returned on a win are the four fields that decide whether the offer is worth taking. Read them before claiming; they are not the same terms every promotion cycle.

What offshore brands give

The same headline words cover different machinery on the offshore list. A “100% bonus” is typically a cash bonus matched to a deposit, with a wagering multiple that asks for a multiplier on the bonus amount — sometimes on the bonus plus the deposit — at a minimum odds threshold that rules out the safest bets. A “free bet” is usually a stake that is not returned on a win: a $10 free bet at odds of 3.00 returns $20 of profit, not $30, and the difference is what the brand keeps in its margin. A “risk-free” bet is, more often than not, a free bet refunded as a free bet when the qualifying bet loses — the refund is not money. A “boosted odds” offer is a one-off price on a named outcome, capped at a stake that is small relative to the headline; the boost often disappears once the punter is large enough that the price movement might cost the brand real money.

The arithmetic on a bonus is what separates the offer from the marketing. A wagering factor of 5x on a $100 bonus is $500 of qualifying turnover; at a market margin of 5%, the expected cost of clearing that turnover is $25; the punter who does not run the multiplication is the punter who pays it. The free bet that returns profit but not stake is worth its face value times the implied probability the bookmaker has priced in, minus the margin that sits inside every price; that value is real, but it is rarely the headline number.

What none of the offshore bonuses change is the licence position. A 200% bonus from a Curaçao bookmaker does not become a New Zealand-licensed offer because the bonus is large. The wagering multiple, the minimum price, the cap on winnings, and the deadline are still the screens the offer runs through, and the New Zealand punter is still outside the New Zealand harm-minimisation framework. The bonus is the case the offshore brand makes for itself; the licence is the case the law makes against it.

The advertisement standards that wrap these offers are the Advertising Standards Authority’s Gambling Advertising Code. Ads must not target children (under 14) or young people (14 to under 18), judged by context, appeal and expected audience (25% or more of the audience counts as significant where accurate data exists), must not encourage harm, and must be truthful with terms available. The Code applies to a New Zealand-facing advertisement, not to an offshore brand’s homepage in another jurisdiction; an offshore bookmaker can run a New Zealand dollar welcome offer without ever being answerable to the Code.

The mobile and app experience: what TAB NZ and Betcha actually build

The TAB NZ app, listed on the New Zealand App Store as “TAB – Racing & Sports Betting” under the seller name New Zealand Racing Board, was first released on 8 September 2014 and has been in continuous service since. The 17+ store rating is the App Store’s content classification; the betting age is 18.

The app covers horse and harness racing, rugby union, rugby league and other sports, pre-match and live. Live race streaming — Trackside — is in the app, with in-app betting and racing form, Blackbook and Jockey Challenge tools, and a simplified wallet for deposits and withdrawals. The Multi product family includes Same Race Multis, Same Game Multis (a multi whose legs come from one event), one-tap Popular Multis, and a Place Extra option that lets punters back runners to finish up to the 10th place in selected races. The betting rules TAB NZ publishes define the bet types the app offers: Win, Place, Each Way, Quinella, Exacta, Trifecta, First Four, Double, Treble, Daily Double, Running Double, Quaddie, Big6, Multis and Same Game Multis.

Betcha is the younger of the two brands. The “betcha | Sports Betting” app is published on the New Zealand App Store by Entain New Zealand Limited, was first released on 6 August 2024, carries a 17+ store rating, and ships the same Safer Betting tools inside the app and the same Gambling Helpline 0800 654 655. Betcha is built around the same wallet and the same TAB NZ customer database, which is why a self-exclusion set on TAB is honoured on Betcha and vice versa.

The offshore brands cover a different surface. SpinBetter, Megapari, BetWinner, Paripesa and others ship iOS and Android apps alongside a mobile site, with a 21+ age notice in their footers. That 21+ is the brand’s own choice; New Zealand law puts the betting age at 18 and offshore brands do not necessarily follow it. The mobile experience is what those apps are built to deliver: a sportsbook with Live, Multi-LIVE, sometimes a Toto or a cricket-led product, and a casino that sits next to it. The cricket and Toto products are big in the markets those apps come from; for a New Zealand punter they are an extra screen rather than the main one.

The casino adjacency is what makes a New Zealand punter’s decision a little more pointed. The Online Casino Gambling Act 2026 is a casino law, not a sports-betting law, and it will run on its own licensing track. An offshore brand that bundles sports betting and casino is not breaking the casino rules because it has no New Zealand casino licence either — both products sit outside the law together, and the bundling does not make either one lawful.

The 17+ and 21+ age ratings on these store listings are store-level controls. They do not turn an unlawful offer into a lawful one. The store enforces its own age threshold for download; the law enforces its own for the bet.

Live betting and what the apps stream

Live betting is in the TAB NZ app, with Trackside live race streaming attached to it. The legal status of in-play markets is not in any statute that has been published, and TAB NZ’s published betting rules do not draw a line. The honest line is that the TAB NZ app offers live betting on the events it lists; the offshore apps offer live betting on a much wider catalogue, and the wider catalogue is part of why a New Zealand punter meets them at all.

The streaming surface inside TAB NZ is racing-led, with Trackside live for the codes it covers. Other sports are not stream-licensed to the app. An offshore bookmaker that streams European football, NBA basketball, or tennis is not doing so for a New Zealand-licensed rights package; it is doing so for the broader rights market, and the New Zealand punter is on that broader market by accident. The picture is not a legal one in itself; it is a reminder of who the offshore bookmaker is actually built for.

Ranking and comparison: TAB NZ and Betcha first, then the offshore brands a New Zealand punter meets

The list below is in two parts. The first pair — TAB and Betcha — are the only brands that may lawfully take racing and sports bets from a person in New Zealand, and they sit at the top by design. The remaining eight brands are listed because New Zealand punters meet them, and they are described and rated against the same criteria — but never called legal, licensed, approved or safe in New Zealand. They are what they are: bookmakers whose offer reaches New Zealand, whose licence sits elsewhere, and whose terms govern any account a New Zealand punter opens.

The table below compares what the operator’s own terms state on the key questions. New Zealand status is the only column where a row’s value is fixed by the law; the rest is what each brand publishes.

What the table cannot say is what a New Zealand punter actually feels inside each app. The next sections carry that.

TAB and Betcha, in detail

TAB and Betcha are the lawful pair. They are not a comparison in the usual sense — they are one operator group with two storefronts, and the only meaningful differences between them are the ones the brands choose to put in front of the punter. Both honour the New Zealand harm-minimisation framework. Both share a wallet and a customer database, so a deposit limit on TAB is a deposit limit on Betcha. Both accept customers 18 and over with a verified New Zealand address and ID. Both list the Gambling Helpline 0800 654 655 and the text line 8006.

TAB is the longer-established of the two, with the full catalogue: horse and harness racing, rugby union, rugby league, other sports, the Trackside live race stream, the racing form tools, and the full Multi family — Same Race Multis, Same Game Multis, Popular Multis, Place Extra up to 10th. The Mega Multi bonus pays up to $50 in Bonus Cash when a multi of 4 or more legs falls short by a set number of legs. The Bonus Cash mechanics — minimum odds, expiry, cap, stake return — live in TAB NZ’s terms at claim time.

Betcha is the newer of the two, first released on 6 August 2024 and built around the same wallet. The pitch is a streamlined sports-and-racing product for the same 18+ New Zealand customer, with the Safer Betting tools inside the app and the same helpline listed. A punter who finds the TAB NZ app busy in places may find Betcha lighter; a punter who wants the full Trackside live stream and the racing form tools will stay on TAB.

The thing that separates this pair from everything else on the list is not the catalogue or the live stream. It is the licence. The bonus terms at TAB are more or less the same as at any other bookmaker; the catalogue is narrower than a typical offshore sportsbook; the live stream is racing-led. What TAB and Betcha have is the New Zealand harm-minimisation framework, the regulator’s oversight, the complaints route that ends with the Department of Internal Affairs rather than with an offshore licence holder, and the Entain partnership that funds the racing codes. A New Zealand punter who values any of those four is not paying for them with a worse price — they are paying for them with a narrower catalogue.

BillyBets

BillyBets runs on a mobile-optimised platform that works on Android and iOS without a downloadable app. Support is 24/7 through live chat and a Help Centre. The cashier page lists New Zealand in the country selector, but the only currency filter shown is Euro, which is the kind of detail a punter notices when they go to deposit and discover their New Zealand dollar balance is being converted at the brand’s own rate rather than at a New Zealand one. BillyBets lacks a New Zealand licence, and its complaints process is internal only.

Alawin

Alawin accepts customers aged 18 or over only. The 18+ figure matches New Zealand law, but it is the brand’s own threshold rather than a regulator’s — the test is whether the brand enforces its own age check on a New Zealand customer, and whether that check is the one a New Zealand punter expects a New Zealand bookmaker to run. Unlike TAB NZ, Alawin operates entirely outside the New Zealand harm-minimisation framework, and holds no licence recognised in New Zealand.

RTbet

RTbet’s sportsbook covers football, tennis, table tennis, basketball, ice hockey, American football and baseball, with live betting and virtual sports. The Curaçao licence gives no right to take bets from people in New Zealand. Virtual sports sit on the other side of the New Zealand legal line: the Online Casino Gambling Act 2026 treats computer-simulated sport as casino gambling, not as TAB NZ sports betting. A New Zealand punter who backs a virtual football match on RTbet is betting on a product the New Zealand law treats as a casino game, with an offshore bookmaker that has no New Zealand casino licence either. The catalogue on RTbet is broader than TAB NZ’s; the protection is narrower, and the catalogue changes nothing fundamental.

FunBet

FunBet offers odds on football, ice hockey, American football, basketball, volleyball, tennis, rugby and baseball, with live betting and a bookmaker advertised as open 24/7. The licence is not New Zealand; the same offshore caveats apply. The “open 24/7” line is what most offshore brands say; the 24/7 claim is about customer service and event coverage, not about the regulator answering the phone.

22Bet

22Bet is run by TechSolutions Group N.V., a Curaçao company with registration number 144920, which also runs 20Bet, Bizzo and National Casino. The Curaçao licence number is 8048/JAZ. The same parent group runs multiple brands under the same umbrella, which is a fact the Curaçao register makes easy to find and a fact a punter rarely hears in the welcome offer. The parent-group structure means a dispute that escalates beyond 22Bet’s complaints process reaches a Curaçao regulator, which has no oversight of New Zealand betting.

Rooster

Rooster is operated by Novatrix SRL, a company incorporated in Costa Rica with registration number 3-102-893958, under an e-gaming licence No. 0000002 issued by the Tobique Gaming Commission. The Tobique licence is a Canadian First Nations licence that gives no right to take bets from people in New Zealand. Rooster carries the same offshore shape as the rest of the list. The Tobique licensing jurisdiction is a detail the brand’s terms put on the page, and the detail is worth taking seriously for what it says about the regulator the brand answers to.

Golden Panda

Golden Panda offers a Sports section with a sportsbook, esports and virtual sports, plus casino, live casino, crash games, rewards, cashback, a VIP Club, Golden Goals and Prediction Markets. This operator is not licensed in New Zealand. The catalogue is broader than TAB NZ’s, the protection is narrower, and the broader catalogue is not the New Zealand punter’s friend inside a market the New Zealand law has closed. The crash games and the VIP Club sit on the casino side of the New Zealand legal line.

Winz

Winz states in its footer that it holds a licence delivered by Anjouan and Tobique. Winz lacks a New Zealand licence; the New Zealand harm-minimisation framework does not reach Winz. Anjouan and Tobique are both licensing jurisdictions whose permits do not extend to New Zealand. The combination of two licences in one footer is common on the offshore list and is the brand’s way of signalling coverage across two regulatory regimes; it does not signal coverage across New Zealand.

SpinBetter

SpinBetter offers iOS and Android apps alongside a mobile version of the site, with a 21+ age notice in its footer. The footer says the site is owned and operated by 3-102-955890 LIMITADA (DBA Sprut Group Limitada), registration number 3-102-955890, registered in Jaco, Puntarenas, Costa Rica, under licence number ALSI-202607036-FI2. The 21+ threshold is the brand’s own; the New Zealand threshold is 18. This operator is not licensed in New Zealand.

Megapari

Megapari’s English site is served from a mirror, 4663118mp.pro, and offers sports betting with Live, Multi-LIVE and Turf sections, a casino, Crash and Dice games, and iOS and Android apps, with a 21+ age notice. The Multi-LIVE product is what separates Megapari from a single-screen sportsbook; it is a tool for in-running acca builders. This operator holds no licence valid in New Zealand.

BetWinner

BetWinner’s English site lists Sports, Multi-LIVE, Live and Toto betting, a casino with Win Games and a live casino, iOS and Android apps, an affiliate programme and a 21+ age notice. The licence is not New Zealand. The Toto product is a pool bet on a set of named outcomes — it is not the New Zealand tote, and the New Zealand dividend mechanic does not apply.

Paripesa

Paripesa offers a Line, Live, Multi-LIVE, cricket-led sportsbook, slots, live casino, virtual sports, TV games and bingo, with iOS, Android and web apps and a 21+ age notice. The cricket-led product is the centre of gravity. The licence is not New Zealand.

Boomerang Bet

Boomerang Bet accepts customers aged 18 and over only. The 18+ figure matches New Zealand law; yet, the brand remains unlicensed here.

Thunderpick

Thunderpick 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. The licence is not New Zealand. The brand positions itself around esports and crypto, and the crypto positioning is its own product choice rather than a regulator’s.

Baji

Baji 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. The licence is not New Zealand.

Betninja

Betninja states that it is licensed to conduct online gaming operations by the Union of the Comoros. The licence is not New Zealand. The brand carries the same offshore shape as the rest of the list.

Overview: the core mechanics every punter meets

How a return is worked out from stake and odds

A winning bet returns the stake multiplied by the decimal odds. At $10 staked at odds of 2.50, the return is $25, and the net profit — the part that is not the stake coming back — is $15. A combination bet multiplies the odds of its legs together: four legs at 1.80, 2.00, 1.90 and 2.10 produce combined odds of about 14.36, and a $10 stake returns $143.60 if all four win. The combined price is large because each leg is a separate event, and any leg losing is a losing bet. The arithmetic is the arithmetic; the uncertainty is whether the legs hold.

What a bookmaker’s margin looks like inside the odds

A bookmaker’s margin is what sits between the “true” odds and the odds offered. On a coin-toss market with two outcomes, “true” decimal odds are 2.00 on each side. A bookmaker offering 1.91 on each side is keeping a margin — the two implied probabilities add to 1.048, and the 0.048 over 1.00 is roughly a 4.8% margin. The payout share is the reciprocal of that sum: 1 ÷ 1.048 is about 95.4%, and the margin is 1 minus the payout share, about 4.6%. The margin is the same number read from two sides — what the punter does not get back of every dollar bet on the market. A 5% margin on a multi-leg combination bet compounds across each leg, which is why combination bets are the most expensive way to bet by margin even when each leg looks reasonable.

What a free bet is worth when the stake is not returned

A free bet whose stake is not paid back on a win is worth its face value times the implied probability of the market the free bet is placed on, multiplied by the payout share of that market. A $10 free bet at odds of 4.00 on a market with a 95% payout share is worth $10 × (4.00 − 1) ÷ 4.00 × 0.95, or about $7.13. It is the average over many such bets; no single free bet pays $7.13. The free bet’s headline value is its face value; the realistic value is the figure the arithmetic produces, and that figure is what a punter must weigh against the qualifying bet the brand asks for.

What “risk-free” usually means

“Risk-free” is the marketing word for a free bet refunded as a free bet when the qualifying bet loses. The qualifying bet is the part the punter funds from cash; the refund, when it comes, is a free bet whose stake is not returned. The risk that has been removed is the loss of the stake on the qualifying bet; the risk that has not been removed is the wagering multiple on the free bet, the minimum odds on it, the cap on a payout from it, and the expiry. “Risk-free” is a brand’s word; the terms behind it are what the brand keeps.

What an offshore bookmaker can keep or refuse

A New Zealand punter who bets with an offshore brand has no New Zealand complaints route. The brand’s own terms govern withdrawals, deposits, bonus treatment, account closure, and dispute resolution. The brand’s licence — Curaçao, Anjouan, Tobique, Comoros — sets the regulator the punter reaches if the brand’s own process fails. That regulator does not speak to Inland Revenue or to the Department of Internal Affairs on the punter’s behalf. The Department of Internal Affairs 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 on the Department’s own pages; a punter who funds an account at an offshore brand is funding an account the regulator has flagged.

Tax on winnings

Inland Revenue guidance says recreational gambling winnings are generally not taxable, and prize money from TAB horse, dog and trotting races is not taxable. A person who bets as a business is a different case. This page does not give tax advice — the advice is to consult Inland Revenue or an accountant for any non-recreational case.

Worked numbers, for the punter who runs the arithmetic

• A winning $10 single at odds of 2.50 returns $25 (stake $10 + profit $15).
• A winning $10 combination bet on four legs at 1.80, 2.00, 1.90 and 2.10 returns about $143.60.
• A market with two outcomes priced at 1.91 and 1.91 has an implied probability sum of about 1.048 and a margin of about 4.6% (payout share about 95.4%).
• A $10 free bet at odds of 4.00 on a market with a 95% payout share is worth about $7.13 on average — the face value of the free bet is the headline; the realistic value is the arithmetic.
• The Mega Multi bonus at TAB NZ pays up to $50 in Bonus Cash when a multi of 4 or more legs falls short by a set number of legs; the qualifying terms — minimum odds, shortfall rule, expiry — live in TAB NZ’s own terms at claim time.

Practical order for a punter opening an account in New Zealand

1. Decide whether the New Zealand harm-minimisation framework matters for the decision. If it does, the choice is between TAB and Betcha, not a wider field.
2. Set the deposit limit, time-out, or self-exclusion inside the app before the first deposit. The tools are there from the first session; the easiest moment to set them is before any money is at stake.
3. Read the Bonus Cash or Bonus Bet terms on any promotion before claiming. The four fields that decide whether the offer is worth taking are the minimum odds on qualifying bets, the expiry window, the cap on a payout from Bonus Cash, and whether the Bonus Cash stake is returned on a win.
4. If the account is at an offshore brand, the New Zealand complaints route is not available; the brand’s own terms govern withdrawals, bonus treatment and disputes; the regulator the brand names is the regulator that handles the complaint.

Frequently asked questions about mobile betting in New Zealand

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

TAB NZ, through its two online brands, TAB and Betcha. Since 28 June 2025, section 74AAA of the Racing Industry Act 2020 prevents anyone else from offering racing or sports betting to a person in New Zealand, and the Department of Internal Affairs told unlicensed providers to withdraw.

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

A winning bet returns the stake multiplied by the decimal odds; net profit is the stake multiplied by the odds minus one. A combination bet multiplies the odds of its legs into a single price, and the stake multiplied by that price is what a winning combination returns.

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

The margin is what sits between the “true” odds and the odds offered. On a market with two outcomes priced at 1.91 each, the implied probabilities add to about 1.048, the payout share is about 95.4%, and the margin is the rest — about 4.6%. The margin compounds on combination bets because each leg carries its own margin.

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

The player loses the New Zealand harm-minimisation framework — deposit limits, time-outs, self-exclusion shared across brands — and the New Zealand complaints route. The Department of Internal Affairs warns that overseas operators may be in jurisdictions with minimal consumer safeguards, may not return unspent credits, and may not pay out large wins.

From what age can bets be placed with TAB NZ, and what is checked when opening an account?

Customers must be 18 or over to bet with TAB NZ, and betting under 18 is an offence under section 89 of the Racing Industry Act 2020. Opening an account requires a verified New Zealand address and ID, and the same checks apply on TAB and on Betcha.

Are betting winnings taxed in New Zealand?

Inland Revenue guidance says recreational gambling winnings are generally not taxable, and prize money from TAB horse, dog and trotting races is not taxable. A person who bets as a business is a different case and must consult Inland Revenue or an accountant.

Content created by the «footballbetsnz» team