Table tennis betting in New Zealand after the TAB monopoly

Updated October 2026

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A New Zealand punter looking to back a table tennis match today faces a market that has narrowed sharply. Since 28 June 2025 only one operator group may lawfully take sports and racing bets from people in New Zealand, and table tennis is among the sports that group prices on its own terms. This page is a working guide to that market: what the law actually changed, where the sport sits inside the limited offering, how the odds are built, and what every figure on a bet slip actually means in dollars.

The data is current as of October 30, 2026 and has been checked against the Racing Industry Act 2020 (as amended by the Racing Industry Amendment Act 2025), the Department of Internal Affairs’ published guidance, and TAB NZ’s own betting rules and app store listings.

Safer gambling tools and where New Zealand punters get help

A table tennis match lasts about twenty minutes, sets run quickly, and the urge to chase a bad leg between games is real. Responsible play is built into the only platform a New Zealand resident can lawfully use, and the wider support network is free.

The limits and exclusions TAB NZ builds in

TAB NZ’s app lists three tools by name: deposit limits, time-outs and self-exclusion. Deposit limits cap how much can be loaded into the wallet over a chosen window; a time-out freezes the account for a set period; a self-exclusion closes the account for at least the minimum period TAB NZ sets, with the exclusion applying across TAB NZ’s two online brands at once. An exclusion is a serious step and cannot be reversed at will once the minimum period starts. The app’s age rating is 17 on the New Zealand App Store and the listed betting age is 18 — betting under 18 is an offence under section 89 of the Racing Industry Act 2020, which is a stronger floor than the 20 used at land-based casinos.

The free help line and what it covers

TAB NZ lists the Gambling Helpline on 0800 654 655 and the text line on 8006 inside the app. Safer Gambling Aotearoa runs those lines and a wider programme of counselling and treatment across the country. The helpline is free from any New Zealand phone, available around the clock, and staff are trained in problem gambling specifically — not a generic mental-health line. The Ministry of Health funds the service through the Problem Gambling Levy, which TAB NZ pays at 0.74% of its gross profits in the period 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2028. That levy is the structural reason the helpline stays free and confidential for any New Zealand punter who picks up the phone.

What responsible play costs the operator

The levy, the duty regime and the harm-minimisation duties add to TAB NZ’s fixed costs in a way an offshore brand does not face. The cost does not show up in the price of a table tennis bet directly, but it is part of why the licensed offering is narrow: there is no betting exchange and no spread betting operation that competes on price. A punter pays nothing extra for harm-minimisation, but pays for it through a thinner market.

Live table tennis betting and cash out

Live betting is the part of the TAB NZ product most likely to drive a table tennis wager mid-match. The sport moves faster than most, the scoring system is transparent, and the in-running market, where it exists, can swing within a single game.

What TAB NZ offers in-running

TAB NZ’s apps list live betting alongside pre-match betting on the sports it covers. The published list of sports includes horse and harness racing, rugby union, rugby league and other sports; table tennis is a smaller offering inside that set. Live betting on table tennis on the licensed platform is subject to whatever menu TAB NZ chooses to publish on the day, not a comprehensive season-long in-running product.

The practical consequence is that live coverage can be patchy. A punter hoping to back a player after dropping the first game may find the market has already suspended for a few points, or that no live market exists for that match at all. Off-brand sites list live betting as a headline feature, but those brands operate outside New Zealand law.

The cash-out question

Cash-out is the feature that lets a punter close a bet before the final outcome, locking in a return based on what the in-running price is at the moment of the close. TAB NZ’s published terms define fixed-odds and tote bets, multis and same-game multis; a published cash-out product is not established in those terms. A punter who wants to lock in profit on a table tennis match on the licensed platform uses the multi-leg or same-game-multi structure rather than a partial close.

The wider market’s habit of advertising cash-out as a near-universal feature is misleading in the New Zealand context. The honest framing is that cash-out is not part of TAB NZ’s published product, and a punter who treats it as available will be disappointed. The same applies to partial cash-out, which the offshore brands list as standard but the licensed operator does not.

Predictions, tips and what “best bets” actually mean in this market

Searches for “best table tennis bets today” and similar phrases push punters toward tipsters, models and influencer picks. The market has narrowed so sharply that the standard tipster pitch — back this player at these odds because the model says so — is harder to verify here than almost anywhere else.

The tipster trade and what it sells

Tipster services sell a forecast and a price. The forecast is a claim about who will win; the price is the value the tipster says is available. Both pieces depend on information that is genuinely scarce in New Zealand. The licensed operator publishes its own market; offshore books list table tennis, but their markets are not directly comparable and the best-price comparison that tipsters describe requires at least two competing books with comparable liquidity.

Why the narrow market punishes a tipster’s edge

The bookmaker’s margin is the share of every dollar bet that the book keeps as profit on average. On a two-way market with decimal odds of 1.90 / 1.90 the margin is the share of the dollar the book keeps, and the rest is returned to winners as payout share. Where one bookmaker operates a market on its own, the punter cannot compare prices across books, and the tipster’s edge — a model says one player is mispriced at 2.10 but the only book offers 1.85 — collapses into the operator’s chosen price. The math behind the tip is unchanged; the ability to act on it is gone.

Strategy that fits a one-operator market

The practical approach for a New Zealand punter is bankroll discipline, not model-driven selection. TAB NZ sets its own limits on minimum stakes and maximum payouts; a punter who respects those limits and reads the betting rules before placing a wager avoids the kind of dispute the offshore brands generate when their terms clash with New Zealand consumer expectations. A bettor who bets for entertainment, sets a deposit limit on the TAB NZ app before the first wager, and reads the rules before placing a multi-leg bet is following a strategy the law is designed to support.

Bet types and odds on table tennis

Table tennis is a sport that lends itself to a small set of bet types. The pace of scoring, the limited number of match outcomes, and the binary nature of the game make most markets easy to read; what is harder is what the price itself says.

The standard match markets

The simplest market is the head-to-head: which player wins the match. Most professional table tennis matches are best of five or seven games, and a market that prices the outright winner reflects that structure. The pricing reflects the chance of either player winning three out of five, or four out of seven, given the underlying chance of winning each individual game.

The handicap market is the second standard. A handicap of -1.5 games means the favoured player has to win by two clear games; a handicap of +1.5 means the outsider starts the second game already one game up. The price on a handicap is built from the same underlying game-by-game chance as the head-to-head, with the margin layered on top. The wider the handicap, the larger the implied gap between the players, and the shorter the price on the favourite.

Totals and interval markets

Totals markets ask whether a match finishes over or under a stated game count. Most best-of-five matches finish in four or five games; most best-of-seven matches finish in four, five or six. The market prices the chance of those outcomes against the line. Some books list interval markets — over/under the total points in a single game, the first to five points in a game, the score after the first game. TAB NZ’s published betting rules define fixed-odds and tote bets and multis; a comprehensive interval offering on table tennis is not separately established in those rules, so a punter treats the menu as whatever TAB NZ publishes on the day.

What the price actually says

A decimal price of 1.90 on a two-way market means a $10 wager returns a $19 payout — the $10 stake plus a $9 profit — if it wins. The formula is return = stake × odds, and the net profit is stake × (odds − 1). A combination bet multiplies the legs into one price; a two-leg multi at 1.90 and 1.90 returns a $361 payout on a $100 stake if both legs win, the $100 stake plus $261 profit.

The price tells the punter two things at once: what the bookmaker thinks will happen and what the bookmaker keeps of every dollar bet. The first piece is the implied probability — 1 ÷ 1.90, or 52.6% for each side at 1.90 / 1.90. The second piece is the margin, the difference between the sum of the implied probabilities and 100%. On 1.90 / 1.90 the implied probabilities sum to 105.0% and the margin is 5.0%, or in payout-share terms the book returns 95.0% of every dollar bet on average to winners. The calculation is laid out below in the prescribed calculation.

The combination bet and how it compounds

A combination bet, or multi, is a single wager whose price is the product of the leg prices. A $10 multi at 1.90 / 1.90 / 1.90 returns $685.90 — the $10 stake plus $675.90 profit — if all three legs win. The bookmaker’s margin compounds with the legs, so the multi’s effective margin is higher than any single leg’s. A two-leg multi at 1.90 / 1.90 has a margin in the 16–17% band; a three-leg multi has a margin higher than that again. The compounding is why a multi looks attractive on a bet slip but is structurally less generous than the same selections priced as singles.

Table tennis tournaments and fixtures

Table tennis has been an Olympic sport since 1988, and the ITTF, the International Table Tennis Federation, was founded in 1926. The professional tour is built around the World Table Tennis Championships, the WTT Tour, the ITTF World Cup, and the Olympic and Paralympic events, with regional competitions and continental championships filling the calendar.

The fixtures a New Zealand punter sees

TAB NZ lists table tennis among the sports it covers, alongside racing and the bigger ball sports. The fixtures priced on the licensed platform are the events TAB NZ chooses to publish, which run to the ITTF calendar and the larger WTT events. There is no published list of which tournaments TAB NZ prices; the platform’s own betting program is the only source. A punter who wants a specific event priced is best served by checking the TAB NZ app on the day, not by assuming coverage from an offshore bookmaker’s advertised list.

The sport itself, briefly

A game is won by the first player to reach 11 points; if both players reach 10, the first to lead by two points wins the game. Service alternates every two points, and once both players reach 10 each serves one point in turn. Scoring changed from 21 points to 11 in 2001. A match is the best of any odd number of games, and competition matches are typically best of five or seven. The table is 2.74 m long, 1.525 m wide and 76 cm high, with a net 15.25 cm high; the ball is 40 mm in diameter and weighs 2.7 g.

Why the underlying structure matters for pricing

The pace of a game and the best-of-five or best-of-seven structure shape the handicap and totals markets. A best-of-five match that goes to 3-2 is a five-game match; a market on total games over 4.5 wins on that result. The chance of the match going the distance depends on whether one player has a structural advantage; the price reflects that. A punter who reads the rules first prices the markets better, because the structure of the sport determines what each market is actually asking.

The ten operators ranked against the criteria

The ranking below is built around three matters: the operator’s status in New Zealand, the shape of its table tennis product, and what its own terms say on the subjects that matter most. The licensed operators come first because no other group is lawful here; the rest are listed for reference and rated against the same criteria, with a clear warning that they do not hold a New Zealand licence.

The criteria

New Zealand status is the first matter. TAB NZ’s two brands are the only group lawfully offering racing and sports betting to people in New Zealand under section 74AAA of the Racing Industry Act 2020, in force since 28 June 2025. Every other brand in this ranking is not licensed in New Zealand, takes bets in breach of the section, and offers no New Zealand complaints route or harm-minimisation framework.

The second matter is the shape of the product: whether the book offers pre-match and live betting on table tennis, what markets it prices, and whether it offers features that matter to a table tennis punter — cash-out, bet builders, boosted odds.

The third matter is what the operator’s own terms state on the subjects that cost a punter money: minimum stakes, maximum payouts, settlement timing, payment methods, and the rules on what happens when a match is cancelled, a player retires, or a market is suspended.

The comparison

How to read the table

The two licensed brands are listed first because no other group is lawful. The eight that follow are not a recommendation to sign up: each is rated against the same criteria and marked as not licensed in New Zealand, and each runs on its own house rules with no New Zealand complaints route and no New Zealand harm-minimisation framework. The table is a working comparison; the verdict is yours.

Operator reviews

Each review covers the product, the terms and the verdict for a New Zealand punter. The two licensed brands come first; every offshore brand is described as operating without a New Zealand licence and rated for what it offers.

TAB

TAB is one of the two online brands of TAB NZ, the only provider lawfully offering racing and sports betting to people in New Zealand under section 74AAA of the Racing Industry Act 2020. There is no licence register for bookmakers because there is only this one lawful provider, and the racing and sports products come only from TAB NZ’s own terms.

The product covers horse and harness racing, rugby union and rugby league and other sports; pre-match and live betting is listed in the TAB NZ apps. The Trackside product provides live race streaming with in-app betting; racing form, Blackbook and Jockey Challenge tools sit alongside a simplified wallet for deposits and withdrawals. Table tennis is priced when TAB NZ chooses to publish a market; the licensed platform does not run a continuous season-long table tennis offering.

The terms set the age at 18 — betting under 18 is an offence under section 89 of the Racing Industry Act 2020 — and the New Zealand App Store age rating is 17. The app was first released on 8 September 2014 under the seller name New Zealand Racing Board. Accounts need a verified New Zealand address and ID. Safer gambling tools — deposit limits, time-outs and self-exclusion — are built into the app, and an exclusion applies across TAB NZ’s two brands.

Verdict. TAB is the only lawful option for a New Zealand punter who wants to back a table tennis match on a regulated platform with a New Zealand complaints route and a harm-minimisation framework. The cost is a thinner market and no cash-out or partial-close feature on a published product. A punter who values legality, harm-minimisation tools and a regulator behind the operator takes TAB; a punter who needs a wide in-running offering on table tennis will find the licensed product patchy.

Betcha

Betcha is the second online brand of TAB NZ, launched on 6 August 2024 and published on the New Zealand App Store by Entain New Zealand Limited. It is one of the two brands that may lawfully take online sports and racing bets from people in New Zealand since 28 June 2025; the two brands are not rivals and run from the same operator group.

The product covers horse, greyhound and harness racing — greyhound racing is closing in stages from 1 August 2026 — alongside rugby, NRL, MMA/UFC, NBA, NFL, tennis, cricket, football, motorsports and esports. Pre-match and live betting is part of the app; the platform is built around the same operator group as TAB, so the safer gambling tools, the deposit limits and the self-exclusion regime apply across both.

The terms follow the same age and address rules as TAB. The partnership between TAB NZ and Entain runs under a 25-year agreement signed in 2023 that gives Entain a 50/50 share of gross profits, with at least $150m a year going to TAB NZ for the first five years and Entain pledging a one-off $100m payment to the racing sector.

Verdict. Betcha is the same lawful option as TAB, dressed in a different product surface — a younger, app-first brand covering a wider set of sports than TAB’s racing-led core. A New Zealand punter who wants esports, motorsports or a more sports-led interface takes Betcha; a punter who wants racing form and Trackside takes TAB. The point that matters for a table tennis wager is that the licensed market runs through TAB NZ, and both brands are windows onto the same product.

BetAlright

BetAlright is not licensed in New Zealand. The brand lists a sportsbook covering football, tennis, table tennis, basketball, ice hockey, American football and baseball, with live betting and virtual sports sections, but only TAB NZ may offer racing and sports betting to people in New Zealand under section 74AAA.

The product surface is broad for an offshore bookmaker; the New Zealand context is that taking a bet from a person in New Zealand is breaking New Zealand law. The brand names no licence that applies in New Zealand; no New Zealand complaints route or harm-minimisation framework reaches it.

Verdict. BetAlright is one of several offshore brands that list table tennis as a covered sport and price live markets on it. The licensed alternative in New Zealand is TAB NZ. A New Zealand punter who opens an account with BetAlright is betting with an operator the regulator has told to withdraw, with no New Zealand complaints route and no recourse to the harm-minimisation tools the licensed platform is required to provide. The product is broader than the licensed alternative; the legality is not, and the difference is the verdict.

Thunderpick

Thunderpick is not licensed in New Zealand. The brand is esports-first, covering CS2, League of Legends, Dota 2 and Valorant, with a sportsbook offering cash-out and markets from the Champions League to the NFL. The Curaçao licence named in the brand’s terms (OGL/2024/677/0722), held by Paloma Media B.V., carries no authority to accept bets from New Zealand residents.

The product surface is built around esports and a sportsbook that adds the major ball sports. Cash-out is a feature of the sportsbook; the licensed alternative does not publish a cash-out product on the same terms.

Verdict. Thunderpick is a useful data point for an offshore comparison: an esports-first brand that publishes cash-out and lists a wide market menu. While it serves New Zealand residents, it holds no local licence; the legal reality is that only TAB NZ may lawfully offer betting services here. The product features are secondary to that fundamental constraint.

Telbet

Telbet is not licensed in New Zealand. The brand describes itself as a crypto casino and sportsbook, with a welcome offer of 200% up to 1 BTC plus 50 free spins and a 5 USDT free bet on its Russian-language site. The brand names no licence that applies in New Zealand; no New Zealand complaints route or harm-minimisation framework reaches it.

The product surface is built around crypto deposits and a sportsbook layered on top of a casino. Table tennis is not explicitly named in the site’s sports menu. The welcome offer — the headline number — does not describe the wagering turnover, the minimum price for a qualifying bet, or the cap on free-bet winnings; those are in the brand’s own terms.

Verdict. Telbet is a crypto-led operator whose headline welcome offer is the kind of number that needs a calculator behind it. The 200% up to 1 BTC figure is the gross offer; the net cost to a punter is the wagering turnover required to clear it, set against the brand’s own bookmaker margin. This brand operates without a New Zealand licence; TAB NZ remains the only lawful betting provider for New Zealand residents.

BetNinja

BetNinja is not licensed in New Zealand. The brand advertises a casino welcome of EUR 1,000 bonus and 100 free spins, and a sports offer of a 100% match up to EUR 100 on the first deposit. The Union of the Comoros licence named in the brand’s terms provides no legal basis for targeting New Zealand customers.

The product surface is a casino-led brand with a sportsbook. Table tennis is not mentioned in the site’s sports directory. The sports offer’s headline figure does not describe the wagering turnover or the qualifying-bet minimum price; those are in the brand’s own terms.

Verdict. BetNinja is a casino-led brand whose sports welcome is a modest 100% match against the larger casino number. The offer appears alongside a lack of New Zealand authorisation; only TAB NZ may lawfully offer betting services here, and BetNinja holds no local licence to operate. A punter who treats the casino welcome as the headline and the sports match as a small add-on sees the offer for what it is.

Rooster.bet

Rooster.bet is not licensed in New Zealand. The brand’s sportsbook has Live, Sports Promotions, Results, Schedule, E-sports and Predictions sections and shows odds in six formats. The Tobique Gaming Commission e-gaming licence (No. 0000002), held by Novatrix SRL, provides no legal coverage for accepting bets from within New Zealand.

The product surface is broad for an offshore brand, with a sportsbook, an esports section and a Predictions section that resembles a tipster feed. The odds formats are a useful data point for a comparison: a punter who wants to see prices in fractional, decimal, American, Hong Kong, Indonesian or Malaysian formats sees them on this platform.

Verdict. Rooster.bet is a broad offshore brand whose odds-format flexibility and Predictions feed are the headline features. This provider lists no New Zealand licence, and the primary legal obligation is that only TAB NZ may offer racing and sports betting here. The Predictions feed is exactly the kind of tipster surface the wider market sells; the licensed alternative does not.

RTbet

RTbet is not licensed in New Zealand. The brand’s sportsbook covers football, tennis, table tennis, basketball, ice hockey, American football and baseball, with live betting and virtual sports — a product surface that explicitly includes table tennis. The Curaçao licence named in the brand’s terms is not valid for accepting New Zealand sports wagers.

The product surface is one of the broader offshore offerings on table tennis: live betting and virtual sports alongside the standard set of ball sports. The brand’s home page text is the source for the table tennis coverage; the depth of the in-running product is not stated there.

Verdict. RTbet is one of the offshore brands that explicitly lists table tennis as a covered sport and pairs it with live betting and virtual sports. It is an unlicensed offshore entity; New Zealand betting law permits only TAB NZ to offer these services. A punter who wants a table tennis market on the licensed platform uses TAB NZ.

Sportaza

Sportaza is not licensed in New Zealand. The brand offers cash out before an event or market is finalised, Bet Builder (if one selection is void the whole betslip is void), multiples, Asian lines and interval markets in 1, 5, 10 or 15 minute ranges. The Anjouan licence named in the brand’s terms (ALSI-202606064-FI2) gives no right to take bets from people in New Zealand.

The product surface is the most feature-rich in this ranking on the mechanics side: cash-out, a bet builder with a clear void rule, Asian lines, and interval markets at four different windows. Table tennis is not highlighted as a distinct category in the site’s sportsbook directory; the listed features apply across the platform.

Verdict. Sportaza is the offshore brand that lists the widest set of betting mechanics in this ranking — cash-out, bet builder, Asian lines, interval markets. The mechanics matter when a punter wants in-running flexibility; the licensed alternative does not publish a cash-out product on the same terms. Sportaza has no New Zealand licence and operates outside the statutory framework that restricts sports betting to TAB NZ.

Glorion

Glorion is not licensed in New Zealand. The brand offers 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 product surface is the broadest in this ranking on the entertainment side: betting markets on award shows and elections sit alongside the standard sportsbook. Table tennis is not explicitly detailed in the brand’s home page menu; the indoor/outdoor grouping suggests it fits the indoor set, but no dedicated list is published.

Verdict. Glorion is the offshore brand whose product surface reaches beyond sport into entertainment markets. It offers these services without a New Zealand licence; under local law, only TAB NZ may lawfully offer sports and racing bets. A punter who treats the entertainment markets as a curiosity rather than a betting category sees the brand for what it is.

The legal framework behind the market

The New Zealand betting market is shaped by two statutes and one amendment: the Racing Industry Act 2020, the Racing Industry Amendment Act 2025, and the Gambling Act 2003. The Online Casino Gambling Act 2026 licenses online casino gambling only and does not change the betting monopoly.

What the amendment actually changed

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 providers serving New Zealand to withdraw with immediate effect. The change is the reason the market narrowed; the licensed offering is now whatever TAB NZ publishes on its own terms, and every offshore brand listed in this ranking is operating in breach of the section by taking bets from people in New Zealand.

What may be bet on

TAB NZ takes fixed-odds and tote bets; its published betting rules define bets such as Win, Place, Each Way, Quinella, Exacta, Trifecta, First Four, Double, Treble, Daily Double, Running Double, Quaddie and Big6, and Multis and Same Game Multis. Live betting is listed in the TAB NZ apps. No lawful New Zealand betting exchange exists, and spread betting is outside TAB NZ’s sports-betting definition. Bets on politics and novelty markets are not established in TAB NZ’s rules. The ban covers events held inside and outside New Zealand. Whether esports betting is “sports betting” under the Racing Industry Act is not established.

Player protection

The age for TAB NZ betting is 18 — section 89 of the Racing Industry Act 2020 makes betting under 18 an offence. TAB NZ accounts need a verified New Zealand address and ID. The safer gambling tools in the apps — deposit limits, time-outs and self-exclusion — apply across both TAB NZ brands. There is no single national online-betting exclusion register: the register the casino law will require is for online casinos only. TAB NZ must keep the risks of problem and underage gambling minimised, and pays the Problem Gambling Levy of 0.74% in the period 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2028.

Tax and the player

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. Operator-side: TAB NZ pays the Problem Gambling Levy (0.74%); overseas operators supplying New Zealand residents pay online gambling duty (12% of profits since 1 July 2024, 16% from 1 January 2027), but a duty being payable does not make an offer lawful — never read a tax payment as a sign that an offshore brand is licensed here.

What the law does and does not do to a player

The player side is settled by section 19(4) of the Gambling Act 2003, inserted in 2025: 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. New Zealand does not block bookmaker sites. DIA 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 honest framing is the operator-side breach, the regulator’s stated risks, and the absence of a published player penalty.

How a winning bet pays back, and what the margin keeps

Two calculations sit behind every bet on a table tennis match: the payout on a successful wager and the margin the book keeps on average. The math is laid out below.

What a winning bet returns

For a single bet, the return is stake × odds. A $10 wager at decimal odds of 1.90 returns $19 — the $10 stake plus a $9 net profit. The stake is returned on a winning single; on a free bet whose stake is not paid back, the return is stake × (odds − 1), or the net profit only.

A combination bet multiplies the legs. A $10 two-leg multi at 1.90 and 1.90 returns $361 — the $10 stake plus $261 profit — if both legs win. A three-leg multi at 1.90 / 1.90 / 1.90 on a $10 stake returns $685.90 on a win, the $10 stake plus $675.90 profit. The compounding of leg prices is what makes a multi look attractive on a slip; the compounding of the bookmaker’s margin is what makes it structurally less generous than the same selections as singles.

What the margin keeps

The bookmaker’s margin is the share of every dollar bet that the book keeps as profit on average across a market. On a two-way market with decimal odds of 1.90 / 1.90 the implied probabilities are 1 ÷ 1.90 on each side, or 52.6% and 52.6%, summing to 105.3%. The payout share is the inverse of that sum, or 100% ÷ 105.3%, which rounds to 94.9%. The margin is 100% − 94.9%, or 5.1% — the share of every dollar bet on this market that the book keeps on average.

The same calculation at 1.85 / 1.85 gives implied probabilities of 54.1% on each side, summing to 108.1%, a payout share of 92.5%, and a margin of 7.5%. At 2.00 / 2.00 the implied probabilities sum to 100% exactly, the payout share is 100%, and the margin is 0% — a market with no built-in edge for the book, which is not what any commercial book publishes. The illustrative band for a competitive two-way market sits between those two readings: somewhere between a 5.1% margin at symmetric 1.90 and a 7.5% margin at symmetric 1.85, with the bookmaker’s actual margin somewhere in that range depending on the sport, the league and the time to the event.

What the margin means for a punter

A 5.1% margin means a book returns 94.9 cents of every dollar bet on the market on average to winners; a 7.5% margin means 92.5 cents. The difference is what a punter pays the book for the privilege of betting, and it is the single most important number on a betting slip after the price. A punter who reads the odds as a probability is reading them wrong; a punter who reads the odds as a probability minus the margin is reading them right.

The free-bet value, briefly

A free bet is a wager the book gives the punter, with the stake usually not paid back on a win. A $10 free bet at 1.90 is worth on average the free-bet amount × (odds − 1) ÷ odds × the market’s payout share. On the 1.90 / 1.90 market above, the formula gives $10 × 0.90 ÷ 1.90 × 0.949, or about $4.50 — the average value of the free bet across many uses, not the value on any single bet. A punter who treats a free bet as a $10 cash wager is overstating it by roughly half on this market.

Frequently asked questions

How does a punter bet on table tennis?

A punter opens an account with TAB NZ, the only operator that may lawfully take sports and racing bets from people in New Zealand since 28 June 2025. Inside the TAB NZ or Betcha app the punter selects table tennis from the sports menu, picks the match and the market — head-to-head, handicap or totals — and enters a stake. The bet settles when the match finishes according to TAB NZ’s betting rules.

How does a punter bet on table tennis and win?

The punter picks the player the punter’s own analysis says will win, prices the bet against the implied probability in the odds, and stakes within a deposit limit set on the TAB NZ app. The bookmaker’s margin sits inside the price, so a winning bet pays back the stake plus a profit; a losing bet pays nothing. There is no system that wins — every price carries a margin, and the margin is the cost of placing the bet.

How does table tennis betting work in practice?

A table tennis match is best of five or seven games, each game won by the first player to reach 11 points or by two clear points from 10-10. The book prices the chance of each player winning the match, the chance of a handicap being covered, and the chance of the total games finishing over or under the line. The price is decimal, the stake is set by the bettor, and the return on a single bet is stake × odds.

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 operator authorized to provide racing and sports wagering services to New Zealand residents. Section 74AAA of the Racing Industry Act 2020, inserted by the Racing Industry Amendment Act 2025 and in force since 28 June 2025, sets the position; the Department of Internal Affairs told offshore providers to withdraw with immediate effect on the same date.

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

The return is stake × odds, with the stake paid back on a winning single. Net profit is stake × (odds − 1). On a two-leg combination bet the odds multiply into one price; a $10 multi at 1.90 and 1.90 returns $361 on a win, the $10 stake plus $261 profit.

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

The margin is the share of every dollar bet on a market that the book keeps as profit on average. On a two-way market with decimal odds of 1.90 / 1.90 the implied probabilities sum to 105.3%, the payout share is about 94.9%, and the margin is about 5.1%. A punter reads the margin by converting the odds to implied probabilities and subtracting the sum from 100%.

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