Online betting in New Zealand 2026 — TAB, Betcha, and what offshore punters really meet

Updated October 2026

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Two operators now stand where a crowded offshore market once did. Since the Racing Industry Amendment Act 2025 inserted section 74AAA into the Racing Industry Act 2020, in force from 28 June 2025, the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) has named TAB NZ and its online sister brand Betcha as the sole authorised online sports and racing betting providers. Every offshore sportsbook a punter meets through an app store or a search result is, on New Zealand law, not licensed to take their bet. The page that follows works through that single legal fact and the choices it leaves standing: the two home brands on the lawful side, the catalogue of offshore brands a search surfaces, and the bet types, the odds, and the safer-gambling tools that go with them.

Current as of October 30, 2026, checked against the Department of Internal Affairs’ published position on the section 74AAA prohibition and TAB NZ’s own product pages.

Live betting and cash out at New Zealand-facing bookmakers

What “live betting” means in a TAB NZ context

Live betting is wagering on a fixture while it is in progress, with odds that move between the time the ball or ball carrier leaves the marking and the final whistle. TAB NZ carries a live product inside its app for racing and selected sports — Same Race Multis, Same Game Multis, and running-price betting on horse and harness races, where the price fluctuates between the start and the final stride. For rugby, the app lists live markets on selected matches without a fully-fledged in-play betting screen; for the codes with thin coverage, the same-game multi is the closest live product on offer. A punter who has used a European sportsbook with hundreds of in-play markets per football match will find the in-play book thinner here than expected, and that gap is a feature of the monopoly rather than a product decision.

The legal frame around in-play betting is unchanged: there is no statutory restriction on a TAB NZ live bet on a sporting event, and the betting prohibition in section 74AAA applies to operators, not to markets.

Cash out: how it works and what it costs

Cash out is the right to settle a bet before the final outcome is known, at a price the bookmaker quotes. TAB NZ lists cash out on selected markets in its app, and the quoted price is the bookmaker’s own reading of the remaining risk at that instant. The price moves with the score, with the goal difference, with the race position, and the bettor who accepts it locks in a stake-weighted return that may be smaller or larger than the original payout. The bookmaker’s margin sits inside that quoted price — every live cash-out offer is itself a market with its own margin, and a backer who cashes out often is paying that margin twice, once on the open bet and once on the close.

There is no rule that says how TAB NZ prices its cash out, and no published margin on the cash-out book. A punter who wants the bookmaker’s read on the live state of a game and is willing to pay the spread can use it as a tool; a punter who expects it to beat the closing price is paying for an opinion dressed as a feature.

Where the live product stops

The overseas brand that serves a New Zealand punter from Curaçao or Anjouan is running a wider in-play book — basketball quarter markets, football next-goal markets, and a cash-out price on most multiples. It is also running against the section 74AAA prohibition. The bettor who follows the live product offshore accepts the legal and the consumer side at once: no New Zealand complaints route, no recourse to the Gambling Commission if a payout is disputed, and a withdrawal process that is the operator’s own. The wider in-play book is real, and so is the gap behind it.

Bet types, odds, and what a price actually pays

Win, place, each way, and the racing exotics

TAB NZ’s published betting rules list the standard racing catalogue. A punter who has only used European sportsbooks meets several of these on the racing product for the first time. Win is the horse that finishes first; Place pays out for a top finish on a defined number of places, with two places for a small field and three or four for the bigger ones. Each Way splits the stake between a Win and a Place bet on the same runner. Quinella picks the first two in any order; Exacta picks them in order; Trifecta and First Four extend the same idea to three and four. Quaddie and Big6 are pool bets that ask the punter to pick the winners of a named sequence of races, with the dividend set by the pool after the last leg runs. Each bet type has its own bookmaker margin, and the exotic markets carry a higher margin than the Win market does.

The greyhound code is closing in stages from 1 August 2026, and from that date offshore operators may not take bets on greyhound races either. Until then, the greyhound tote and fixed-odds products on TAB NZ continue.

Same Game Multi and the multi-bet book

A multi, or combination bet, is a wager whose legs are several selections on one slip, and the odds of the legs multiply into one price. A four-leg multi at odds 1.50, 1.80, 2.10 and 2.50 returns the stake times the product of those odds, with a 1.50 × 1.80 × 2.10 × 2.50 = 14.175 price on a 10 NZ$ stake returning 141.75 NZ$ if all four legs win. A Same Game Multi (SGM) takes the legs from one event: a rugby match’s head-to-head, line, total points and first tryscorer, all on the one slip. TAB NZ’s app lists Same Game Multis alongside Same Race Multis on the racing product, and the one-tap Popular Multis panel packages pre-built combinations.

The Mega Multi bonus listed in the TAB NZ app books a bonus of up to 50 NZ$ in Bonus Cash when a multi of four or more legs falls short by a set number of legs. The bonus is a marketing layer on top of the multi’s own payout, and the headline figure is paid in Bonus Cash rather than in withdrawable cash — Bonus Cash is the bettor’s stake on the next wagering cycle rather than a cash payout, and the terms attached to that stake are the operator’s own. The “up to” in the headline is the upper end of a sliding scale, not the standard outcome, and a punter reading the headline alone sees a number that the small print pulls back.

Decimal odds and the in-margin

TAB NZ publishes its racing and sports odds in decimal form, the same as the European sportsbooks. A 2.10 decimal price means a 10 NZ$ stake returns 21 NZ$ if the bet wins, with 11 NZ$ of profit on top of the stake. The stake is included in the decimal price, so a 1.50 price is the break-even line for a confident favourite and a 5.00 price is a five-times-return longshot. The bookmaker’s margin sits in the gap between the implied probabilities of all outcomes on a market: the sum of 1 ÷ odds across every runner is the payout share, and 1 minus that payout share is the margin. A two-runner market at 1.91 and 1.91 has a 2 × 1 ÷ 1.91 = 1.0471 implied total and a 4.71 % margin; the same market at 1.85 and 1.95 has a 2.057 implied total and a 5.7 % margin. The sharper the book, the smaller the margin; the looser the book, the more the operator keeps.

The margin varies by market, by bookmaker, and by event. A 1X2 market on an All Blacks test match is not the same margin as a Quinella pool on a midweek harness race, and the margin on an Exacta is wider than on a Win market because the bookmaker is pricing more outcomes.

Boosted odds, bonus bets, and what they really cost

A boosted odds offer raises the headline price of a single selection by a small amount — 2.10 becomes 2.25 for one fixture, or a Same Game Multi’s combined price is bumped. The boost is funded by the operator and the price paid is a thinner margin on that market. A punter who takes only the boosted legs at the boosted price collects the full payout with no rollover; a punter who combines the boosted leg with other legs pays the headline cost of the multi on top.

Bonus bets are the operator’s own wagering token. TAB NZ lists Bonus Cash as the headline medium of its welcome package for new customers, and a punter splits the Bonus Cash across multiple bets at the bettor’s discretion. A Bonus Cash bet pays out the profit only — a 10 NZ$ Bonus Cash bet at 3.00 returns 30 NZ$ of profit but the 10 NZ$ stake is not returned with the win. The same rule applies to most offshore brands’ free bets, and the same calculation works for both: the value of a free bet whose stake is not paid back is the bet amount times the odds minus one, divided by the odds, multiplied by the payout share of the market. A 10 NZ$ free bet at 3.00 on a market with a 95 % payout share returns about 6.32 NZ$ on average, with the assumption that the bet wins at the published price and the market margin applies. The free bet is worth roughly its face value divided by the price; a 50 NZ$ free bet at 2.00 is worth about 23.80 NZ$ of expected value, and the rest is the operator’s take.

The bonus terms carry a turnover requirement, a minimum price, and a deadline. A bonus base of 100 NZ$ with a five-times rollover means the punter has to wager 500 NZ$ before the bonus balance is withdrawable, with only bets at or above the minimum price counted. The required turnover is the bonus base times the wagering factor, the number of bets is the turnover divided by the average stake, and the expected cost of clearing the bonus is the turnover times the margin of the market the rollover is being done on. A 500 NZ$ turnover on a 5 % margin market costs the punter about 25 NZ$ of expected value on top of the bonus amount.

The Racing Industry Act 2020 is silent on bonus size or rollover terms, and the page describes the offers the operators publish without inviting the reader to claim them.

Sports and tournaments on the New Zealand-facing book

Rugby codes at the front of the book

TAB NZ’s app covers rugby union and rugby league with the depth a home audience expects. The All Blacks’ test matches, Super Rugby Pacific, and NPC fixtures fill the schedule through the winter; the NRL carries a full Australian book on a New Zealand-facing app, and the Warriors’ season is treated as a standalone interest. Same Game Multis on rugby tests package head-to-head, line, total points, first tryscorer, and team-specific markets, with the one-tap Popular Multis panel serving up the pre-built combinations for each fixture. Rugby codes are the highest-margin section of the racing-and-sport book, and the SGM book is the main route to a multi in those markets.

The handicap or “line” market on a rugby test carries a margin of between five and eight per cent on the home-facing app, with the price tightening as the kick-off approaches. The head-to-head market runs narrower, and the tryscorer markets wider because the bookmaker is naming a player rather than a side. A punter who reads the odds first and the headline second will see the difference between the margin on a 1X2 line and the margin on a SGM leg, and the gap is the operator’s take on the multi.

Racing: the codes, the courses, the carnival

TAB NZ takes bets on thoroughbred, harness, and greyhound racing, with the Melbourne Cup carnival at the front of the spring calendar and Cup Day the busiest single fixture of the year. The Melbourne Cup is a fixed-odds and pool product on TAB NZ’s racing book, and the bet types on the card include the standard racing catalogue and the multi-race pool bets the Quaddie and Big6. The place dividend depends on the field size: a small field pays two places, a larger field three, and the biggest fields four. The exotic markets carry a higher margin than the Win market, and the pool bets pay a dividend set by the pool itself rather than by the bookmaker, with the operator’s take the pool deduction.

Greyhound racing closes in stages from 1 August 2026. The 2026 racing product is the last full greyhound season on TAB NZ; from 1 August, the code is no longer bettable, and the New Zealand greyhound racing product is wound down across the calendar. A punter who has been following the greyhound book needs to check the closing schedule on TAB NZ’s own racing pages before staking on a fixture near the boundary.

Other codes on the home book

Cricket, basketball, football, tennis, ice hockey, American football, baseball, and volleyball fill the rest of the home book. The Black Caps’ summer is the busiest cricket fixture, and the IPL, BBL, and Test series carry full markets through the season. Football coverage runs from the A-League and the A-League Women to the Champions League and the Premier League, with a Same Game Multi book on the bigger fixtures and a head-to-head book on the smaller ones. Basketball covers the NBA and the NBL, tennis the four slams and the tour events, and the smaller codes fill in between. The market depth varies by event, and the bigger the fixture the tighter the book and the higher the SGM coverage.

FunBet, an offshore brand, lists odds on football, ice hockey, American football, basketball, volleyball, tennis, rugby, and baseball as the eight core sports of its book. The list is a useful cross-section of the offshore product: every major code and the standard North American quartet, with rugby on the list because the New Zealand punter is part of its target audience.

Tournaments and the calendar

The big tournaments drive the price movement: the Rugby World Cup, the Cricket World Cup, the FIFA World Cup, the Olympics, the Melbourne Cup, the NRL and AFL grand finals, the NBA Finals, and the four tennis slams. TAB NZ’s app treats these as headline events with full pre-match and live coverage and a Same Game Multi book on the bigger ones. The price moves in the hours before kick-off and again on the team sheet, and a Same Game Multi placed at the open is rarely the same price as the same multi at the whistle. A punter who plans a multi on a fixture is advised to price the legs before they click, and a punter who has already clicked is advised to accept that the same combination five minutes later is a different bet.

New bookmakers a New Zealand punter meets

The New Zealand side: TAB and Betcha

Betcha is a New Zealand sports and racing betting app published on the App Store by Entain New Zealand Limited, first released on 6 August 2024. The app is the younger of the two TAB NZ brands, and it is the second of the two authorised betting services. Betcha carries the racing and sports product under the same wagering rules as TAB NZ, with the same markets, the same odds, and the same Bonus Cash promotion; the brand sits beside TAB rather than as a rival, and the two are run together as the home-facing product of the TAB NZ monopoly. A punter comparing the two will see the same prices on the same races, with the differences in the product surface — the betting slip, the layout, the racing form section — rather than in the underlying odds.

TAB NZ itself was first released as an app on the New Zealand App Store on 8 September 2014, with the seller named New Zealand Racing Board, and the betting app “TAB – Racing & Sports Betting” has carried the same wagering-book rights of TAB NZ since. The two apps are issued by the same operator and use the same product, and a punter’s choice between them is a choice of interface rather than of price.

The offshore side: who is in the pack

The page works through ten New Zealand-facing brands on the same criteria. Two are the home-facing TAB NZ brands and eight are offshore brands New Zealand players meet in search results, app stores, and affiliate sites. The offshore brands are listed for reference and rated by the same criteria; each is marked as not licensed in New Zealand, and the offshore label is the rule rather than the exception. A reader reading the offshore section for the first time is advised to treat every brand other than TAB and Betcha as an operator that the Department of New Affairs has named as not licensed to take their bet.

Glorion supports customers by Live Chat and email, accepts customers aged 18 and over, and is unlicensed in New Zealand.

RoyalistPlay is owned and operated by Novatrix SRL, a Costa Rica company with registration number 3-102-893958, and states that it holds e-gaming licence No. 0000002 from the Tobique Gaming Commission. This licence is not recognised in New Zealand.

Sportaza’s footer states it is licensed and regulated by the Government of the Autonomous Island of Anjouan, Union of Comoros, under licence No. ALSI-202606064-FI2, while its terms cite licence No. 0000067 issued by Tobique; neither licence applies in New Zealand.

Telbet describes itself as a crypto casino and sportsbook and is unlicensed in New Zealand.

Alawin accepts customers aged 18 and over and is unlicensed in New Zealand.

FunBet’s sportsbook offers odds on football, ice hockey, American football, basketball, volleyball, tennis, rugby and baseball, with live betting and a bookmaker described as open 24/7. This operator is unlicensed in New Zealand.

BetNinja states that it is licensed to conduct online gaming operations by the Union of the Comoros, a jurisdiction not recognised in New Zealand.

22Bet’s site shows copyright for 2017-2026 and a 21+ age notice, and the brand names a Curaçao licence, which gives no right to take bets from people in New Zealand.

A punter looking at the offshore pack sees the same pattern across every brand: a remote licence that does not extend to New Zealand, no New Zealand complaints route, and no harm-minimisation framework that reaches the brand’s offer. The wider in-play book and the wider bonus book are real, and so is the gap behind them.

How online betting works in New Zealand

Opening a TAB NZ account

A TAB NZ account needs a verified New Zealand address and verified ID, and the verification step is run before the first deposit clears the account. A new punter opens the TAB or Betcha app, creates an account with an email address and a password, and is asked to confirm a New Zealand address — the address check is the part of the account opening that filters out the overseas customer. The verification flow takes minutes for the address and a working day or two for the ID, and the punter cannot place a bet until the ID check has cleared. Once the account is verified, the punter can deposit, place a bet, and request a withdrawal through the in-app wallet, with the deposit and withdrawal methods the operator’s own terms list.

The address check is the line that holds the monopoly together. A New Zealand punter with a verified New Zealand address is the customer the section 74AAA prohibition was framed to protect, and the offshore brand that serves the same punter without an address check is the operator the prohibition is aimed at.

Placing a bet

The betting slip on the TAB NZ app is the front end of the wagering engine, and the bet types the slip supports depend on the market. A racing bet asks the punter to pick a runner, a stake, and a bet type from the standard catalogue. A sports bet asks the punter to pick a market, a selection, and a stake, with Same Game Multis available on selected fixtures. The decimal odds are displayed next to each selection, the potential return is calculated automatically, and the slip is confirmed with a single tap. The bet settles when the market settles — at the end of the race, at the final whistle, or at the result of the fixture — and the payout is credited to the in-app wallet.

A multi is several selections on one slip, and the odds of the legs multiply into one price. The punter cannot pick a stake and a price independently on a multi: the stake goes in, the legs go in, and the slip calculates the combined price and the potential return. The multi settles when the last leg settles, and a leg that voids — a non-starter in a race, a fixture that is abandoned — drops out of the combined price without cancelling the rest of the multi.

Deposits and withdrawals

TAB NZ’s deposit and withdrawal methods are listed in the app and on the operator’s own terms. The methods include card payments and bank transfer; the operator-level limits on deposit amount and withdrawal amount are the punter’s own terms, and there is no statutory rule that fixes a cap. The in-app wallet shows the available balance and the bonus balance separately, with the bonus balance the wagering cycle that has to be cleared before it converts into a withdrawable balance.

The offshore operators list a wider set of methods. Crypto deposits, prepaid cards, and a wider range of e-wallets are typical of the offshore book, and a punter who has used an offshore brand before will see a longer cashier list than the TAB NZ app. The wider cashier is a real product feature; the absence of a New Zealand complaints route behind it is the cost.

Tracking the bet

The TAB NZ app lists the bet history, the open bets, and the settled bets in the in-app wallet, with each bet showing the stake, the odds, the potential return, and the settled result. A punter who wants to cash out an open bet does it through the bet history, with the quoted cash-out price the bookmaker’s own reading of the remaining risk. The Trackside live race streaming service carries the racing product through to the in-app betting screen, and the racing form, Blackbook, and Jockey Challenge tools sit beside the bet slip. A punter who wants to follow the bet through the race watches it on Trackside with the slip open and the bet settled at the result.

The ten New Zealand-facing bookmakers, ranked

How the ranking is built

The ranking below is built on a single hard constraint and three softer ones. The hard constraint is the section 74AAA prohibition: only TAB and Betcha are licensed to take bets in New Zealand, and every other brand on the list is rated against the legal frame as not licensed. The three softer criteria are the depth of the racing product, the depth of the sports product, and the safer-gambling tooling the operator publishes on its own pages. The criteria carry equal weight within each tier, and the ranking reflects the operator’s own published position rather than the page’s guess.

The ten operators below are the same on every site of this pack. The order is set, the brands are set, and the write-ups reflect what each operator publishes on its own pages as of October 30, 2026.

The landscape at a glance

The columns are the matters the spec asks for. The “New Zealand status” column is the hard constraint; the third column is what each operator publishes about its own offer on its own terms. The third column for the two home brands lists the wagering rules, the bet types, the multi products, and the safer-gambling tooling, with the offshore brands’ third column restricted to the licence and the age check the operator publishes. A reader scanning the table sees the legal frame on every row and the operator’s own published product on the right.

The two lawful brands

TAB

TAB is one of two online brands of TAB NZ, the only provider lawfully offering racing and sports betting to people in New Zealand since 28 June 2025 under section 74AAA of the Racing Industry Act 2020. The app covers horse and harness racing, rugby union and rugby league and other sports, pre-match and live, with a 17+ App Store age rating and a stated minimum age of 18 to bet. The wagering book lists the standard racing catalogue along with the multi products Same Race Multi, Same Game Multi, and one-tap Popular Multis. The Mega Multi bonus offers up to 50 NZ$ of Bonus Cash when a multi of four or more legs falls short by a set number of legs, with Bonus Cash paid as a stake on the next wagering cycle rather than as a cash payout. The app carries Trackside live race streaming with in-app betting, racing form, Blackbook and Jockey Challenge tools, and a simplified in-app wallet for deposits and withdrawals. The safer-gambling tooling the operator publishes is the TAB NZ app’s deposit limits, time-outs, and self-exclusion.

The TAB brand is the main interface for the TAB NZ monopoly, and the wagering product is the home-facing product of the section 74AAA framework. The racing book carries the depth a home audience expects, the multi products are listed on every fixture the app covers, and the safer-gambling tooling is in the operator’s own pages rather than as an industry overlay.

A punter who uses the TAB app is betting through the only lawful channel the New Zealand racing-and-sport betting monopoly offers. The product is the racing-and-sport product the operator publishes, and the operator-level limits on deposit, withdrawal, and bet size are the punter’s own terms rather than a statutory cap.

Betcha

Betcha is the second of TAB NZ’s two online brands, one of two brands that may lawfully take online sports and racing bets from people in New Zealand since 28 June 2025, and a New Zealand sports and racing betting app first released on 6 August 2024. The brand sits beside TAB rather than as a rival, and the wagering rules, the odds, and the bonus book match TAB’s. The product surface is mobile-first, with a younger look and feel than the TAB app, and the betting slip is built for handset use rather than the tablet-first TAB layout. The racing book carries the same full catalogue of bet types, the same Same Race Multis and Same Game Multis products, and the same Mega Multi bonus offer.

The Betcha brand exists as a younger, mobile-first interface on the same product TAB NZ publishes, and a punter’s choice between the two is a choice of interface rather than of price. The two brands are the two lawful online interfaces of the same operator group, and the bonus book, the wagering rules, and the safer-gambling tooling are the operator’s own terms on both.

A punter who prefers a mobile-first interface and the same TAB NZ product can bet through Betcha. The book is the home-facing book; the legal frame is the section 74AAA prohibition; and the brand-to-brand difference is the layout rather than the price.

The offshore brands a New Zealand punter meets

The eight offshore brands are rated against the same criteria as the two home brands and on the legal frame the section 74AAA prohibition sets. The brands’ wagering products, safer-gambling tooling, and licence claims are listed below, with each write-up ending on the page’s judgement of the brand rather than on the licence alone. A punter who reads the offshore section for the first time is reading the brands the section 74AAA prohibition targets, and the legal frame is the rule rather than the exception.

Glorion

Glorion’s support is available by Live Chat and by email, and the site accepts customers over 18 years of age only. The brand is unlicensed in New Zealand.

The wagering product and tooling are the operator’s own terms. A punter who lands on Glorion is meeting an operator the Department of Internal Affairs has named as not licensed, with no New Zealand complaints route behind the brand’s offer.

RoyalistPlay

RoyalistPlay is owned and operated by Novatrix SRL, a Costa Rica company with registration number 3-102-893958, and states that it holds e-gaming licence No. 0000002 from the Tobique Gaming Commission. The Tobique licence is not recognised, and the prohibition applies to RoyalistPlay’s offer.

The wagering product and tooling are the operator’s own terms, and a punter who lands on RoyalistPlay is meeting an offshore operator with a Tobique licence that does not extend to New Zealand.

Sportaza

Sportaza’s footer states it is licensed and regulated by the Government of the Autonomous Island of Anjouan, Union of Comoros, under licence No. ALSI-202606064-FI2, while its terms cite licence No. 0000067 issued by Tobique. Neither licence applies in New Zealand.

The two licence numbers across the footer and the terms are a mismatch rather than a dual licence, and the section 74AAA prohibition is the rule. A punter who lands on Sportaza is meeting an offshore operator with a Comoros or a Tobique claim that does not extend to New Zealand.

Telbet

Telbet 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 is unlicensed, and the prohibition applies to Telbet’s offer.

A crypto sportsbook brings a different cashier and a different set of bonuses than the home-facing product, and the section 74AAA prohibition is the rule rather than the exception. A punter who lands on Telbet is meeting an offshore operator without a New Zealand-recognised licence.

Alawin

Alawin accepts customers aged 18 or over only. The brand is unlicensed in New Zealand, and the prohibition applies to Alawin’s offer, with no New Zealand complaints route behind the brand.

The operator-level tooling is the operator’s own terms, and the wagering product is the brand’s own book. A punter who lands on Alawin is meeting an offshore operator without a New Zealand-recognised licence.

FunBet

FunBet’s sportsbook offers odds on football, ice hockey, American football, basketball, volleyball, tennis, rugby and baseball, with live betting and a bookmaker described as open 24/7. This brand is unlicensed in New Zealand, and the prohibition applies to the offer.

The eight-code sportsbook is a useful cross-section of the offshore product: every major code and the standard North American quartet, with rugby on the list because the New Zealand punter is part of the brand’s target audience. The wider in-play book is real; the section 74AAA prohibition behind it is the rule.

BetNinja

BetNinja states that it is licensed to conduct online gaming operations by the Union of the Comoros. The Comoros licence is not recognised in New Zealand, and the section 74AAA prohibition applies to BetNinja’s offer.

The operator-level tooling is the operator’s own terms, the wagering product is the brand’s own book, and a punter who lands on BetNinja is meeting an offshore operator with a Comoros licence that does not extend to New Zealand.

22Bet

22Bet’s site shows copyright for 2017-2026 and a 21+ age notice, and the brand names a Curaçao licence. The section 74AAA prohibition applies to 22Bet’s offer to New Zealand residents.

The Curaçao licence is the most common offshore licence a New Zealand punter meets, and the section 74AAA prohibition is the rule rather than the exception. A punter who lands on 22Bet is meeting an offshore operator with a Curaçao licence that does not extend to New Zealand.

Overview: the New Zealand betting landscape in 2026

What is actually open to a New Zealand punter

Two interfaces on the same lawful product, and a longer list of offshore brands a punter meets through search results and app stores. The home-facing product is TAB and Betcha, two mobile apps on the TAB NZ wagering book, with a published catalogue of racing bet types, a Same Game Multi book on the bigger fixtures, a cash-out feature on selected markets, a Mega Multi Bonus Cash promotion, and the safer-gambling tooling the operator publishes in its own pages. The offshore list is the brands the section 74AAA prohibition targets: every one of them is named as not licensed in New Zealand by the Department of Internal Affairs, none of them carries a New Zealand complaints route, and every one of them takes New Zealand customers at the operator’s own risk.

A New Zealand punter with a verified New Zealand address is the customer the section 74AAA prohibition was framed to protect. The home-facing product is the lawful option; the offshore list is what the prohibition is aimed at.

Why the law reads the way it does

The Racing Industry Act 2020 establishes TAB NZ as the sole betting provider for racing and sports in New Zealand, and the Racing Industry Amendment Act 2025 inserted section 74AAA: 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 change took effect on 28 June 2025, and DIA told providers serving New Zealand to withdraw with immediate effect. There is no licensing route for another bookmaker and no licence register for betting, because there is only one lawful operator. The Online Casino Gambling Act 2026 licenses online casino gambling only and does not license sports betting; TAB New Zealand winning the right to apply for a casino licence does not extend the betting monopoly.

The legal frame targets the operator rather than 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, and no published penalty for a player was found. The penalty for an operator breaching section 74AAA is not stated in the section, and no prosecution of an offshore bookmaker was found. New Zealand does not block bookmaker sites, and the prohibition puts liability on the offshore operator rather than on the punter.

The home-facing product is funded through TAB NZ’s partner Entain, which runs the TAB business under a 25-year agreement signed in 2023 that gives Entain a 50/50 share of gross profits, with at least 150 million NZ$ a year going to TAB NZ for the first five years, and Entain pledged a one-off 100 million NZ$ payment to the racing sector. The monopoly funds the racing codes through the dividend TAB NZ receives, and the offshore operators are not part of the funding flow.

Legality and regulation

The racing-and-sport monopoly

The Department of Internal Affairs is the gambling regulator under the Gambling Act 2003 and monitors compliance with the betting prohibition under section 92A of the Racing Industry Act 2020. The Racing Industry Act 2020 establishes TAB NZ as the sole betting provider for racing and sports in New Zealand, and the Racing Industry Amendment Act 2025 inserted section 74AAA: 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 change took effect on 28 June 2025, and the Department of Internal Affairs told providers serving New Zealand to withdraw with immediate effect. There is no licensing route for another bookmaker and no licence register for betting, because there is only one lawful operator.

The ban covers events held inside and outside New Zealand, and the operator that serves a New Zealand punter from overseas is breaking the prohibition. The law does not geo-block offshore websites; it puts liability on the offshore operator.

The two lawful brands — Legality and regulation

TAB and Betcha are the two lawful online brands of TAB NZ, run by Entain under a long-term partnership. The two brands are one operator group rather than rivals, and the wagering rules, the odds, and the bonus book match across the two. The Racing Industry Act 2020 is silent on bonus size or rollover terms, so the bonus book is the operator’s own terms rather than a statutory rule. A punter who bets on TAB or Betcha is betting through the only lawful online channel New Zealand offers, and the safer-gambling tooling, the regulator oversight, and the complaints framework are the New Zealand frame behind the bet.

The greyhound calendar

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 2026 racing product is the last full greyhound season on TAB NZ; from 1 August, the code is no longer bettable, and the New Zealand greyhound racing product is wound down across the calendar. A punter who has been following the greyhound book needs to check the closing schedule on TAB NZ’s own racing pages before staking on a fixture near the boundary.

What may be bet on

Racing and sports betting from TAB NZ only. TAB NZ takes fixed-odds and tote (pool) bets; its published betting rules define the standard racing catalogue and the multi products. Live betting is listed in the TAB NZ apps; any statutory restriction on in-play markets is not established. 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. Virtual sport is treated by the 2026 online casino law as casino gambling; whether esports betting is “sports betting” under the Racing Industry Act is not established.

There is no statutory per-bet cap; limits are TAB NZ’s own terms. The age for TAB NZ betting is 18, and betting under 18 is an offence under section 89 of the Racing Industry Act 2020; land-based casinos are 20, and the two ages are separate.

Player protection and tax

The age for TAB NZ betting is 18 (betting under 18 is an offence under section 89 of the Racing Industry Act 2020); land-based casinos are 20, and the two ages are separate. TAB NZ accounts need a verified New Zealand address and ID. TAB NZ lists deposit limits, time-outs and self-exclusion in its apps, and an exclusion applies across its brands (TAB and Betcha). 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 a Problem Gambling Levy of 0.74 per cent (in force from 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2028). Help: the free Gambling Helpline (0800 654 655, text 8006) and Safer Gambling Aotearoa.

For 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 per cent); overseas operators supplying New Zealand residents pay online gambling duty (12 per cent of profits since 1 July 2024, 16 per cent from 1 January 2027), but a duty being payable does not make an offer lawful, and the point-of-consumption charge on offshore racing and sports bets ceased on 30 June 2026.

Advertising and the offshore operator

The Department of Internal Affairs reads the prohibition as covering promoting or taking such bets for another operator, and how DIA treats betting affiliates is not established. The Advertising Standards Authority’s Gambling Advertising Code applies to betting advertisements: ads must not target children (under 14) or young people (14 to under 18), judged by context, appeal and expected audience (25 per cent or more of the audience counts as significant where accurate data exists), must not encourage harm, and must be truthful with terms available. No New Zealand equivalent of a “whistle-to-whistle” ban for betting was found.

Since 28 June 2025 an overseas bookmaker taking sports or racing bets from a person in New Zealand is breaking New Zealand law (DIA’s statement); the penalty for breaching section 74AAA is not stated in the section and no prosecution of an offshore bookmaker was found. New Zealand does not block bookmaker sites. 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 source states a penalty for a player. 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.

Safer gambling at New Zealand-facing bookmakers

The home-facing toolset

TAB NZ’s app carries deposit limits, time-outs, and self-exclusion, with an exclusion applying across its brands (TAB and Betcha). A punter who wants a time-out sets it inside the in-app settings, with a minimum time-out of 24 hours and a longer exclusion available through the safer-gambling section. The deposit limit is set at the operator level and applies to all deposits made through the in-app wallet; the punter who wants to lower the limit can do it inside the app, and the punter who wants to raise the limit has to wait through a cooling-off period the operator sets. The self-exclusion is the strongest of the three, and a punter who has self-excluded cannot open a new account on TAB or Betcha for the period the exclusion runs.

The free New Zealand gambling helpline is 0800 654 655, with the text line 8006, and Safer Gambling Aotearoa is the published referral service. TAB NZ’s app lists both the helpline and the Safer Gambling Aotearoa site in the safer-gambling section.

The offshore gap

The offshore brands carry their own safer-gambling toolkits. Glorion supports customers by Live Chat and by email, and Alawin accepts customers aged 18 and over; the operator-level tooling is the operator’s own terms, and a New Zealand punter who self-excludes from an offshore brand has no New Zealand complaints route to fall back on. The home-facing toolset has regulator oversight and a complaints framework; the offshore gap has neither.

A punter who wants the home-facing toolset bets through TAB or Betcha. The safer-gambling tooling, the regulator oversight, and the complaints framework are the New Zealand frame behind the bet, and the operator-level limits are the operator’s own terms.

The harm-minimisation levy

TAB NZ pays a Problem Gambling Levy of 0.74 per cent (in force from 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2028), and the offshore gambling duty (12 per cent of profits since 1 July 2024, 16 per cent from 1 January 2027) is paid by overseas operators supplying New Zealand residents. A duty being payable does not make an offer lawful, and the levy funds the harm-minimisation services rather than the wagering product. The free Gambling Helpline and Safer Gambling Aotearoa sit behind the levy, and a punter who needs the service finds it through the helpline rather than through the levy itself.

Crypto, anonymity, and the cashier

Crypto at the home-facing book

TAB NZ’s deposit and withdrawal methods are listed in the app and on the operator’s own terms, and crypto is not among them. A punter who wants to deposit through a New Zealand-facing account uses the methods the operator publishes, and the wider crypto cashier is not on the list. The home-facing cashier is narrower than the offshore cashier, and the narrower list is the cost of the New Zealand-recognised licence.

Crypto at the offshore book

The offshore brands carry a wider cashier. Telbet describes itself as a crypto casino and sportsbook, and the welcome offer of 200 per cent up to 1 BTC plus 50 free spins and a 5 USDT free bet on its Russian-language site is paid in crypto. FunBet, Alawin, and the rest of the offshore pack carry a similar cashier, with crypto deposits and crypto withdrawals the typical shape of the offer.

The legal frame around crypto

No statutory payment rule for betting accounts (card, bank, credit, prepaid, crypto) was found, and TAB NZ’s deposit methods and limits are operator-level and come only from its terms. 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, and the offshore crypto cashier is one route the warning covers. Nothing states a rule on crypto or VPN use, and account opening at TAB NZ requires a verified New Zealand address rather than an anonymous wallet.

A punter who wants a verified New Zealand cashier bets through TAB or Betcha. A punter who wants a crypto cashier bets through an offshore brand, and the offshore choice is the one the section 74AAA prohibition targets.

Bonuses and free bets at New Zealand-facing bookmakers

What a welcome offer looks like on TAB NZ

TAB NZ’s welcome offer for new customers is Bonus Cash that can be split across multiple bets, and the app lists a Mega Multi bonus of up to 50 NZ$ in Bonus Cash when a multi of four or more legs falls short by a set number of legs (terms and conditions apply). Bonus Cash is a wagering token rather than a cash credit, and a Bonus Cash bet pays out the profit only — the stake is not returned with the win. The “up to” in the Mega Multi headline is the upper end of a sliding scale rather than the standard outcome, and a punter reading the headline alone sees a number the small print pulls back.

The wagering terms carry a turnover requirement, a minimum price, and a deadline, all on the operator’s own pages. The Racing Industry Act 2020 is silent on bonus size or rollover terms, so the bonus book is the operator’s own terms rather than a statutory rule. A punter who claims the welcome offer accepts the wagering terms the operator publishes, and the headline number is paid out as Bonus Cash rather than as withdrawable cash.

What a free bet is worth

A free bet whose stake is not paid back is worth roughly its face value divided by the price. A 10 NZ$ free bet at 3.00 on a market with a 95 per cent payout share returns about 6.32 NZ$ on average, with the assumption that the bet wins at the published price and the market margin applies. A 50 NZ$ free bet at 2.00 is worth about 23.80 NZ$ of expected value, and the rest is the operator’s take. The free bet is paid as a wagering token, the stake is not returned with the win, and the value of the offer is the expected payout rather than the face value.

A punter who claims a free bet is advised to price the offer against the wagering terms the operator publishes. The expected value is the free bet amount times the odds minus one, divided by the odds, multiplied by the payout share of the market. The face value is the headline; the expected value is the offer.

What a bonus costs to clear

A bonus base of 100 NZ$ with a five-times rollover means the punter has to wager 500 NZ$ before the bonus balance is withdrawable, with only bets at or above the minimum price counted. The required turnover is the bonus base times the wagering factor, the number of bets is the turnover divided by the average stake, and the expected cost of clearing the bonus is the turnover times the margin of the market the rollover is being done on. A 500 NZ$ turnover on a 5 per cent margin market costs the punter about 25 NZ$ of expected value on top of the bonus amount, and the cost is paid in the operator’s margin rather than as a fee.

The wagering terms carry a minimum price the punter has to bet at to count toward the rollover. The minimum price is the operator’s own term, and a punter who bets below it adds to the turnover without counting toward the rollover. The deadline on the rollover is the operator’s own term, and a punter who does not clear the rollover by the deadline forfeits the bonus balance.

The offshore welcome book

The offshore welcome book is wider than the home-facing book. Telbet’s welcome offer of 200 per cent up to 1 BTC plus 50 free spins and a 5 USDT free bet on its Russian-language site is one example, and the offshore pack carries similar offers across the cashier. The wider book is a real product feature; the section 74AAA prohibition behind it is the cost. A punter who claims an offshore welcome offer bets through an operator the section 74AAA prohibition targets, and the offer is paid in the operator’s own wagering token rather than in New Zealand-recognised currency.

Mobile and app

The TAB NZ mobile interface

TAB NZ’s app is “TAB – Racing & Sports Betting” on the New Zealand App Store under the seller name New Zealand Racing Board, first released on 8 September 2014. The app carries a 17+ App Store age rating and a stated minimum age of 18 to bet, and the betting slip is built for handset use. The wagering product is the racing-and-sport book: Match Racing Same Game Multis on the bigger fixtures, the racing bet types on the racing book, and the Trackside live race streaming service inside the betting screen. The in-app wallet shows the available balance and the bonus balance separately, with the deposit and withdrawal methods the operator’s own terms list.

The Betcha mobile interface

Betcha is a New Zealand sports and racing betting app published on the New Zealand App Store by Entain New Zealand Limited, first released on 6 August 2024. The app is the younger of the two TAB NZ brands, and the product surface is mobile-first, with a younger look and feel than the TAB app. The wagering product is the same racing-and-sport book the TAB app publishes, and the betting slip, the racing form, and the safer-gambling tooling are native features rather than a separate Betcha framework.

The offshore mobile interfaces

The offshore brands carry their own mobile interfaces, with mobile-first designs and crypto cashier pages that mirror the wider cashier. BillyBets’s cashier page offers New Zealand in its country selector, and the only currency filter shown on the page is Euro; the cashier is the operator’s own terms, and a New Zealand punter who lands on BillyBets meets an operator the section 74AAA prohibition targets. The wider mobile interface is a real product feature; the prohibition behind it is the cost.

The browser experience

The browser experience on TAB and Betcha is the same product the app publishes, with the wagering book, the racing form, and the safer-gambling tooling the operator’s own pages list. A punter who prefers a browser opens tab.co.nz or betcha.co.nz through a New Zealand-facing device and uses the same product the app publishes. The browser experience is not the same as the in-app experience, and a punter who wants Trackside streaming uses the app rather than the browser.

Frequently asked questions

How can I bet on the Melbourne Cup online?

The Melbourne Cup is a fixed-odds and pool product on TAB NZ’s racing book, with the race carried through Cup Day on the home-facing product. A New Zealand punter bets through the TAB or Betcha app, opens the racing market on the day, and picks from the standard catalogue or a multi-race pool bet like the Quaddie or Big6 on the card. The place dividend depends on the field size: a small field pays two places, a larger field three, and the biggest fields four. Pool bets pay a dividend set by the pool itself, with the operator’s take the pool deduction, and the exotic markets carry a higher margin than the Win market.

How do I bet on horses online?

A New Zealand punter opens the TAB or Betcha app, picks the racing market, and selects a horse racing fixture: thoroughbred, harness, or greyhound (until the greyhound calendar closes from 1 August 2026). The betting slip asks for the runner, the stake, and the bet type (from the standard racing catalogue). The decimal odds are displayed next to each runner, the potential return is calculated automatically, and the slip is confirmed with a single tap. The bet settles when the race result is official, and the payout is credited to the in-app wallet.

How do I bet Lotto online?

Lotto is run by Lotto NZ rather than by TAB NZ, and the Lotto product is a separate lottery wager rather than a TAB NZ racing or sports bet. A punter who wants to play Lotto opens the MyLotto app or visits the Lotto NZ site, picks the numbers, and confirms the entry; the draw runs on the published schedule, and the prize is paid into the MyLotto account. The TAB NZ betting apps do not carry Lotto, and the section 74AAA prohibition does not cover the lottery product.

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

TAB and Betcha, the two online brands of TAB NZ, are the only operators that may lawfully take bets in New Zealand under section 74AAA of the Racing Industry Act 2020. There is no licensing route for another bookmaker and no licence register for betting, because there is only one lawful operator. Every other bookmaker a punter meets through search results and app stores is, on New Zealand law, not licensed.

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

Return equals stake multiplied by the odds. Decimal odds include the stake, so a 10 NZ$ stake at 2.10 returns 21 NZ$ if the bet wins, with 11 NZ$ of profit on top of the stake. For a combination bet, the odds of the legs multiply into one price, so a four-leg multi at odds 1.50, 1.80, 2.10 and 2.50 returns the stake times 14.175, with a 10 NZ$ stake returning 141.75 NZ$ if all four legs win. The odds are the bettor’s reading of the price; the return is the arithmetic the price delivers.

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

The bookmaker’s margin is the share of every unit bet on a market the bookmaker keeps. The payout share is 1 divided by the sum of 1 divided by the odds across every outcome on a market, and the margin is 1 minus the payout share. A two-runner market at 1.91 and 1.91 has a 1.0471 implied total and a 4.71 per cent margin; the same market at 1.85 and 1.95 has a 1.0527 implied total and a 5.27 per cent margin. The sharper the book, the smaller the margin, and the looser the book, the more the operator keeps. The margin sits inside every price, and a punter who reads the odds across all fifty markets sees the bookmaker’s take on each one.

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