New Zealand’s online casino market will reward operators that treat compliance as a core market strategy, as Mike de Graaff Chief Compliance Officer of BetComply warns that many NZ suitors need to get in shape for market entry
It is full steam ahead for New Zealand’s new online gambling regime that is coming into play!
For years, New Zealanders have had to look offshore but that is now set to change. The Online Casino Gambling Act is in force, the country’s Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) is moving towards a staged implementation process and the licensing process is expected to begin in July 2026.
The current plan is for up to 15 online casino licences to be made available, with the full licensed regime expected to be operational in 2027.
While New Zealand is not a huge market by population, it is a wealthy country and there’s going to be serious interest from the many of the biggest operators in the world for those licences. Recent data from the DIA put the country’s online gambling market at more than NZ$1.3bn ($870m) annually, with online casino activity forming a major part of that.
For operators, the attraction is obvious. New Zealand is a developed economy with high digital adoption and established offshore demand. It’s an opportunity to add regulated revenue in a market that will likely share similarities with the UK, Canada, Australia and the United States.
The channelisation challenge
By now, we’re very familiar with the challenges of bringing offshore players into a newly regulated regime.
Encouragingly, advertising will be allowed, albeit with several caveats. New Zealand appears to understand that a newly regulated market cannot succeed if licensed operators are prevented from speaking to the players they are trying to channelise.
Licensed operators will be able to advertise to people in New Zealand once the licensing process is complete, but only within defined restrictions. Cabinet’s initial regulatory decisions, released in late 2025, already point to a tighter model than some operators may be used to, including prohibitions on affiliate marketing and paid endorsements.
In a bid to curb offshore operators, the DIA has already made clear that advertising remains prohibited for unlicensed online casino operators, and the new Act gives the regulator much sharper teeth. That includes takedown notices and penalties of up to NZ$5m for unlawful advertising, which can apply not only to operators but also to those publishing or arranging the publication of unlawful ads on their behalf.
Opening Opportunities
The licensing cap will be another challenge. With up to 15 licences available, and no operator able to hold more than three, the market will be competitive before it even launches. The auction process means companies will need to make a commercial judgement not only on the potential value of the market, but on the cost of entry, the tax burden and the operational work required to meet the regulator’s expectations.
As will player protections. The framework is being built around practical controls. Identity verification before deposit, player-set limits, self-exclusion, operator monitoring, intervention policies and restrictions on higher-risk product features. Credit cards and buy now pay later facilities are expected to be prohibited, while operators will need to give customers tools to limit time, deposits, spending and stakes.
There is also a clear product dimension. Autoplay is set to be banned, players will be limited to one online slot at a time, and bonuses will be tightly controlled in both value and presentation.
All this means that responsible gambling cannot sit in a policy document at the back of the business. It has to be built into onboarding, payments, game design, bonusing, CRM and customer operations from the outset.
There is also a transitional issue. From 1 December 2026, operators that have not applied for a licence are expected to cease operating in New Zealand, while applicants may be able to continue under restrictions while their applications are assessed. That means compliance history before licensing may matter. Operators already touching the market should be reviewing their current exposure now, especially around advertising, customer communication and whether their activity aligns with the direction of travel.
The opportunity is real. A limited-licence market with existing consumer demand can be extremely commercially attractive.
But New Zealand is not likely to reward operators that treat regulation as a box-ticking exercise. The market is being designed to separate credible, long-term operators from those that simply followed offshore traffic.
New Zealand will be a good market for operators that are ready. But readiness will mean more than wanting one of the 15 licences. It will mean proving that the business deserves one.
