Sports betting guides 2026: who is allowed to take your bet, and what you give up
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Most “sports betting guides” assume the reader already has a list of bookmakers to compare. New Zealanders do not. Since an amendment to the Racing Industry Act 2020 took effect on 28 June 2025, TAB NZ and its online sister brand Betcha are the only operators allowed to take online sports and racing bets from people in New Zealand. That single fact reshapes every other decision on this page: which welcome offer is reachable, which deposit method gets checked against a real New Zealand address, which dispute gets heard in New Zealand, and which self-exclusion tool actually crosses the brands you bet with. The rest of this guide explains those costs, one by one, in the language of a punter who wants to know what they are paying for.
Updated October 30, 2026 against the Racing Industry Act 2020 and the Department of Internal Affairs’s public register.
The New Zealand betting landscape in plain terms
The landscape shrank to a single lawful provider on a specific date. Before 28 June 2025 a punter in New Zealand had the option to place bets with offshore bookmakers that accepted them; after it, an overseas operator taking a sports or racing bet from a person in New Zealand is breaking New Zealand law. TAB NZ is the racing and sports betting monopoly holder, TAB (the retail and online brand) and Betcha (the mobile-first sister brand) are its two online faces, and TAB NZ is itself run in partnership with Entain New Zealand under a 25-year agreement signed in 2023 that gives Entain a 50/50 share of gross profits with at least $150m a year flowing to TAB NZ for the first five years.
Every other name in this guide — 22Bet, RoyalistPlay, Thunderpick, Glorion, Millioner, Rabona, LegendPlay, Rooster and others a New Zealand punter meets online — is presented here for reference and clearly marked as not licensed in New Zealand. The Department of Internal Affairs told such providers to withdraw with immediate effect when the new section came in. The branding, the odds, the welcome offer, the live streams: every line of that product is built for another jurisdiction, and the legal framework it runs under was never written to protect a New Zealand customer.
The honest reading order for any punter in New Zealand is as follows: TAB and Betcha first, then everything else as a comparison with the awareness that “comparison” here does not mean “equivalent option”. A bookmaker licensed in Curaçao, Anjouan or Tobique has a real licence in its own jurisdiction, and that licence gives its holder no right whatsoever to take bets from people in New Zealand. Where the reader sees a familiar name in this guide, the answer to “is it legal for me to use it?” is the same across all eight.
The statute that makes this so is unusually clean to read. Section 74AAA of the Racing Industry Act 2020 says 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. There is no licence to apply for, no licence register for bookmakers, and no second lawful operator waiting in a queue. The Online Casino Gambling Act 2026 licensed online casino gambling only; TAB New Zealand winning the right to apply for a casino licence does not extend the betting monopoly, and the lone national register of exclusions that the casino law will require is for online casinos only.
For the player the position is more subtle. 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 operator in breach of section 74AAA; no source states a penalty for a player, and no prosecution of a player was found. Punters who choose an offshore brand are not committing an offence by placing the bet. What they give up is the rest of the New Zealand framework: the deposits and withdrawals that have to clear through a verified New Zealand account, the harm-minimisation tools, the dispute route, and the regulator that stands between them and the operator when something goes wrong.
Who may lawfully take your bet — and why that is the answer most of this guide keeps coming back to
TAB NZ is the only lawful provider of racing and sports betting to people in New Zealand. The two online brands, TAB and Betcha, sit on either side of the same licence: TAB is the long-running retail-and-online operation with the full form and live experience; Betcha is the mobile-first app launched in August 2024 with a simpler interface and a younger feel. They share the wagering engine, the wallet logic and the self-exclusion register — having a TAB account does not give a punter a “second chance” through Betcha, and exclusions cross both brands.
Betcha opened on 6 August 2024, the first new brand from TAB NZ in years and the bridge between TAB’s traditional form-and-figure racing pages and the cleaner mobile first-screen a younger punter expects. Betcha’s sportsbook covers horse, greyhound and harness racing, rugby union, NRL, MMA and UFC, NBA, NFL, tennis, cricket, football, motorsports and esports — a deliberately wide menu designed to convert casual racing punters into multi-sport ones.
The TAB NZ app (formally “TAB – Racing & Sports Betting”, published by New Zealand Racing Board) covers horse and harness racing, rugby union and rugby league plus other sports, both pre-match and live. The app carries a 17+ App Store age rating; the betting age itself is 18, and section 89 of the Racing Industry Act 2020 makes betting under 18 an offence. For land-based casino gaming the age is 20; the betting age and the casino age are different, and they never collapse into one another.
TAB NZ verifies identity at account opening. The flow accepts a verified New Zealand address and ID; offshore brands do not, by design. The verification is the first reason TAB NZ holds its monopoly so comfortably: a punter who fails the address check has nowhere lawful to go. The same is true of deposits: TAB NZ’s deposit methods and limits are operator-level terms, not statute, but they are the only ones a New Zealand punter can route through a New Zealand bank without geo-restrictions and currency conversion surprises.
For the comparison that follows, every offshore brand sits in the same column. 22Bet holds a Curaçao licence (8048/JAZ) under TechSolutions Group N.V. RoyalistPlay names a Tobique Gaming Commission e-gaming licence. Thunderpick runs on a Curaçao licence (OGL/2024/677/0722) held by Paloma Media B.V. Glorion names no licence that applies in New Zealand. Millioner names no licence that applies in New Zealand. Rabona runs on a Curaçao licence. LegendPlay runs on an Anjouan Gaming Authority licence. Rooster names a Tobique Gaming Commission e-gaming licence.
Each is a real licence in its own jurisdiction — Curaçao is a long-standing regulator, Anjouan has been licensing for years, Tobique issues e-gaming permits — and each is silent on whether the holder may take bets from people in New Zealand. That is the only statement this guide makes about them, and it is the one that matters.
What a real New Zealand betting offer actually pays back
The first cost a punter pays is the difference between the headline offer and what reaches the wallet. Welcome bonuses, boosted odds, free bets, accumulator insurance and cashback promotions are the standard menu across the industry, and the industry spends considerable effort on making each line sound straightforward. None of them is. Each carries a minimum price, a turnover multiple, a deadline and a market restriction that turn a $50 free bet into something worth between a fraction and a few times that, depending on how it is cleared.
The free-bet calculation is the cleanest illustration. Where a free bet’s stake is not paid back with a win — the usual case — the value of the bet is its face value multiplied by one minus one over the price, multiplied by the payout share of the market it is placed on. A $50 free bet at decimal odds of 3.00 on a market with a 95% payout share is worth $50 × (3.00 − 1) ÷ 3.00 × 0.95, which comes to $31.67 on average. The free bet does not turn into $50 of real money on any single outcome; it turns into $31.67 across many placements.
That gap is the margin between marketing and mathematics. A bookmaker that prints “free bet up to $200” has built the cost of the offer into the price of the markets it offers the bet on, and the offers that look richest are usually the ones priced with the largest margin to begin with. Across offshore brands the terms vary widely and most are not published in full until the punter has signed up; across TAB NZ the bonus bets promotions are published and the wagering requirements are spelled out in plain terms. The comparison reads better on TAB NZ, and that is one reason the marketing spend on offshore welcome offers is so much higher.
Deposit bonuses are a different mechanism. Where a 100% deposit bonus is offered, the bonus becomes part of the base that has to be turned over before it converts to withdrawable cash. A $100 deposit matched with a $100 bonus at a 5x turnover on the bonus only requires $500 of qualifying bets — a manageable sum. The same offer written as “bonus plus deposit” doubles the base to $200 and the turnover to $1,000, with the same advertised “5x bonus” headline. The two are not the same offer; one punter clears it in a long afternoon, the other over a sustained campaign.
The “risk-free” bet is the third mechanism worth naming. A risk-free bet that is refunded as cash is generous by industry standards. A risk-free bet that is refunded as a free bet, with the stake not returned, is the marketing name for a free bet tethered to a first wager. The refund has the same calculation the free bet does, and the punter who reads the headline as money back has misread the offer.
For TAB NZ and Betcha specifically, the menu is bonus bets promotions, boosted odds and the standard fixed-odds and tote menu. Promotions are described in the brand’s own terms; turnover and minimum price appear in the promotion rules. The page does not print promotion codes — promotions are claimed through the app, with the terms shown before the bet is placed, and that is the order the punter meets them at.
How the odds work: a market margin, not a “fair price”
A bookmaker does not give a fair price. The price a punter sees on a market has the bookmaker’s margin baked in, and reading the margin in the odds is one of the few edges a punter controls. A two-way market quoted at 1.90 / 1.90 looks balanced; in fact, the payout share of that market is one divided by one over 1.90 plus one over 1.90, which is 1 ÷ (0.5263 + 0.5263) = 0.95, or 95%. The margin is 5%.
At 1.85 / 1.85 the payout share is 1 ÷ (0.5405 + 0.5405) = 0.925, or 92.5%. The margin is 7.5%.
At 1.80 / 1.80 the payout share drops to 90.0%. The margin is 10%.
The illustration matters because it tells a punter that the difference between a 1.90 line and a 1.85 line at the same bookmaker is roughly 2.5 percentage points of margin, which over a punter’s lifetime volume adds up to real money. The price at one bookmaker is rarely the same as the price at another on the same event, and a punter who only ever bets at one brand pays a hidden margin tax every time.
A two-way illustrative example is also the cleanest way to show how a bookmaker constructs a line. The “juice” lives in the gap between the offered odds and the implied even-money probability. At 1.90 / 1.90 the implied probability of each side is 52.63%, which adds to 105.26% — a 5.26% margin. At 1.85 / 1.85 the implied probability of each side is 54.05%, adding to 108.1% — an 8.1% margin. The sum of the implied probabilities always exceeds 100% by the margin, and the reader who has never seen this on the page before has just learned a fact they will use for the rest of their punting.
TAB NZ prices its markets like every other fixed-odds bookmaker; the margin is in the odds. The deeper a market (more liquidity, more competing bettors) the tighter the margin; the shallower a market (niche sports, late scratches, obscure props) the wider the margin. That is why the same event priced at two bookmakers can show two very different margins, and why the punters who have an account at TAB NZ and whose punting volume supports opening a second bookmaker for arbitration are rare.
The three-way variant extends the same arithmetic. A 1X2 market (home win / draw / away win) at 1.80 / 3.40 / 4.50 implies 55.56% + 29.41% + 22.22% = 107.19%, a 7.19% margin. The same 1X2 at 1.85 / 3.40 / 4.33 implies 54.05% + 29.41% + 23.09% = 106.55%, a 6.55% margin. Three-way markets carry wider margins than two-way markets by design; the market has one extra outcome and the bookmaker’s cut sits in that asymmetry. The punter who only bets three-way markets pays a margin tax on every bet.
A live (in-play) market carries a wider margin than the pre-match line, generally between 1 and 3 percentage points depending on the sport. The bookmaker’s risk on a live line is faster and harder to hedge than a pre-match line, and that risk is priced into the margin. TAB NZ lists live betting in its apps; the margin on the live line is the first thing the punter pays.
What it actually costs the punter: a worked example
A worked example is the most concrete way to see the cost. Take a $20 single bet on a rugby match at TAB NZ, decimal odds of 1.90. A winning bet pays back stake × odds = $20 × 1.90 = $38. Net profit is stake × (odds − 1) = $20 × 0.90 = $18. The bookmaker’s margin on a 1.90 / 1.90 line is 5%; across many such bets the punter expects to lose 5% of total stake to the margin.
Put a one-month volume through that line — say 50 bets at $20 each, total stake $1,000 — and the expected loss is $1,000 × 0.05 = $50. That is what the punter pays for the privilege of betting, before any outcome at all. Across a year at the same volume, the expected cost is $600 — and that is on a market at the moderate end of the margin range.
The accumulator changes the arithmetic and the cost. A four-leg multi at decimal odds 2.00, 1.90, 1.80 and 2.20 has combined odds of 2.00 × 1.90 × 1.80 × 2.20 = 15.048. A $10 stake returns $150.48 on a win. The margin of a multi is the combined margin of the four legs; each leg’s margin is roughly 5% to 8%, so the combined margin is closer to 20% to 30%. The expected loss per dollar staked is roughly that margin, and the punter who reads a multi as “high payout, low cost” is reading the offer wrong. The punters who profit from multis are the small fraction who pick four legs right on the same day; the punter who runs a steady volume through them pays a multi-specific margin tax.
The same-game multi — a multi whose legs come from one event — is a TAB NZ innovation that groups player props, halves totals and team totals into one bet slip. The combined odds multiply, the margin of each leg compounds, and the marketing line about “build-a-bet” distracts from the cost. TAB NZ publishes the underlying odds; the punter who checks the multiplied leg prices will see how the offer actually prices.
Spread betting and betting exchanges are a different category and are not part of this New Zealand landscape. There is no lawful New Zealand betting exchange, and spread betting is outside TAB NZ’s sports-betting definition. A punter who wants either has only the offshore options, and the offshore options do not extend New Zealand harm-minimisation tools, dispute resolution or the regulator’s protection. A punter who wants spread betting in New Zealand is, today, asking for a product no New Zealand-licensed bookmaker provides.
The rules TAB NZ actually publishes — and why they matter
TAB NZ lists the safer-gambling tools in its app: deposit limits (daily, weekly or monthly), time-outs (a short break ranging from 24 hours to six weeks) and self-exclusion (a longer exclusion, applied for through the help line or in-account). The list is short, fully integrated into the app, and reviewed by the Department of Internal Affairs as part of TAB NZ’s harm-minimisation obligations.
The exclusion crosses brands. A self-exclusion set on the TAB account applies to Betcha as well; a self-exclusion set on Betcha applies to TAB. The two are one operator group, and an exclusion is meant to reach both — otherwise it is no exclusion at all.
The help line is the Gambling Helpline on 0800 654 655, with a text line on 8006. The service is free, available 24/7, and run by Safer Gambling Aotearoa. The Department of Internal Affairs funnels part of the Problem Gambling Levy (set at 0.74% from 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2028) into it. A punter whose betting is starting to slip has a real, New Zealand-resident, regulator-funded place to call — and offshore brands do not provide that line in their app.
For account opening, TAB NZ requires a verified New Zealand address and ID. The check is real; the address has to clear, the document has to scan. That is a cost measured in minutes at first deposit but a benefit paid out over years — the same check is what lets TAB NZ’s deposit limits have any teeth.
For payments, no statutory rule on betting-account payment methods was found. TAB NZ’s deposit methods and limits come 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. A punter who opens an offshore account on the strength of a “withdrawal in 24 hours” claim has read an advertiser’s promise; the regulator’s warning is the more honest reading.
Bonuses and promotions: what is reachable, and what the page does not print
Reachable offers fall into three buckets. TAB NZ publishes bonus bets promotions in its app: the offer, the wagering multiple, the minimum price, the deadline, the eligible markets and the cap on winnings are all in the promotion rules before the bet is placed. The promotion is claimed through the app. Offshore brands publish welcome offers that are usually higher in face value but whose terms are not complete in the public terms page — minimum deposit, wagering multiple, eligible markets, country restrictions, maximum withdrawal from bonus-derived winnings all need to be checked after sign-up, often in a “bonus terms” link buried two pages deep.
The page describes offers qualitatively rather than printing working codes. A welcome offer on a Curaçao-licensed sportsbook that publishes a 100% match up to EUR 100 is one of the cheaper bookmaker welcome offers on the international market. A welcome offer on a Curaçao-licensed sportsbook that publishes a 200% match up to 1 BTC plus a free spins package is a high-face-value offer that is targeted at crypto-funded punters and whose wagering mathematics on the bonus side take careful reading. The page describes which offers are rich in headline value, which are heavy on wagering, and which do not list their full terms in the public terms page.
Betcha’s bonus offers, like TAB’s, are published in the app. They tend to be smaller in face value than offshore welcome offers, sometimes built around an odds boost or a refund-as-bonus-bets structure rather than a deposit match, and they are accessible from the same wallet. A punter who wants to compare offers across TAB NZ and offshore brands must weigh face value against three real numbers: the wagering multiple, the minimum qualifying price, and the cap on winnings from bonus-derived funds.
The payout share of a market is what the bonus is spent on. A promotion that gives a $50 free bet and is placed on a pre-match rugby line at 1.90 yields an average of $50 × 0.90 ÷ 1.90 × 0.95 ≈ $22.50. A promotion that gives the same face value on a live market with a 9% margin yields an average of $50 × 0.90 ÷ 1.90 × 0.91 ≈ $21.55. The difference is small on one bet but compounds over the lifetime of a bonus programme.
The “risk-free” label deserves its own treatment. Where an offer is risk-free with a cash refund it is one of the stronger offers in the industry and rare; where the refund is a free bet, the punter has paid for it. The calculation is the free bet’s value, multiplied through the same formula — face value × (odds − 1) ÷ odds × payout share. The marketing word reads like a gift; the mathematics reads like a margin-grafted bonus bet.
Responsible gambling: where to get real help in New Zealand
The help available in New Zealand is structured around three organisations. The Gambling Helpline (0800 654 655, text 8006) is the front door; it is free, runs 24/7, and is run by Safer Gambling Aotearoa. The Department of Internal Affairs funds part of the service through the Problem Gambling Levy and monitors compliance at TAB NZ. TAB NZ itself provides the deposit limits, time-outs and self-exclusion tools that bind the bracket between a casual punter and a self-excluding one.
The age is 18 for betting; section 89 of the Racing Industry Act 2020 makes betting under 18 an offence. The TAB NZ app carries a 17+ App Store age rating, a tighter band the App Store imposes on gambling products. The casino age, separately, is 20 for land-based gambling; online casino gambling under the 2026 act has its own age limits. The ages never merge.
Offshore brands provide none of the above. They may carry a self-exclusion feature, but the feature is set in a jurisdiction whose regulator is not the Department of Internal Affairs and whose complaint route does not return to New Zealand. A punter who has set a TAB NZ exclusion will not reach that exclusion through an offshore brand, which is one of the practical reasons offshore brands are a poor substitute for someone trying to cut back.
Greyhound racing is closing in stages from 1 August 2026. From that date an offshore operator may not take bets on greyhound races in New Zealand either. The gap between the betting monopoly and the racing product is closing, and punters who have raced greyhounds through offshore books have a transition to plan.
Sports and tournaments: where the menu actually fits
TAB NZ’s racing menu is the deepest of any New Zealand brand. The thoroughbred, harness and greyhound racing codes carry a full form service, live streams, and the racing-specific bet types — Win, Place, Each Way, Quinella, Exacta, Trifecta, First Four, Double, Treble, Daily Double, Running Double, Quaddie and Big6 — that are the bread and butter of New Zealand racing. The form service and live streams are the reason TAB NZ is the daily destination for many racing punters.
The sports menu covers rugby union and rugby league (All Blacks, Super Rugby Pacific, NRL), cricket (Black Caps), the Warriors in the NRL, football (the FIFA internationals, A-League, Premier League), NBA, NFL, tennis, MMA and UFC, motorsports and selected esports. The menu is not the widest in the world — an offshore bookmaker may run 50 sports, TAB NZ’s menu runs fewer — but the menu is the menu a New Zealand punter can lawfully use.
The racing codes are where the bet types matter most. Quinella (pick first and second in any order), Exacta (pick first and second in order), Trifecta (pick first, second and third in order), First Four (pick first, second, third and fourth in order), Double (pick winners of two nominated races), Treble (pick winners of three nominated races), Daily Double, Running Double, Quaddie (pick winners of four nominated races at a meeting), and Big6 (pick winners of six nominated races at a meeting). Multi bets combine legs from different events for higher combined odds.
The same-game multi is a TAB NZ feature for sports. A multi whose legs all come from one match — player to score, half-time result, total points, first scoring play — multiplies into one combined price on the bet slip. The legs are constrained to one event, but the multiplication is the same and the combined odds can climb high quickly.
Betcha’s menu is similar in sports but lighter on the racing side. Betcha covers horse, greyhound and harness racing and the same rugby codes, but the racing form and the racing-only bet types lean toward casual punters than hard form-readers. A racing purist keeps TAB NZ; a punter who wants a multi-sport mobile-first product keeps Betcha. Both are TAB NZ brands.
How a bet works, step by step
Placing a bet at TAB NZ or Betcha follows a simple sequence. Open an account through the app — verified New Zealand address and ID, as above. Deposit through one of the operator’s published methods — the deposit methods and limits come only from TAB NZ’s own terms. Pick a market, place a stake, accept the odds. The bet is recorded in the bet slip history.
A few details are worth naming. Fixed-odds bets lock in the price at placement and pay out at that price — no matter where the market moves before settlement. Tote (pool) bets are paid at the dividend declared after the race, which depends on the pool and the number of winning tickets. A punter who wants certainty about the price chooses fixed odds; a punter who wants the racing dividend chooses the pool.
Cash-out is a feature where the bookmaker offers to settle a multi before the final leg. The offered cash-out price is lower than the multi’s full combined odds, reflecting the bookmaker’s pricing of the unsettled legs. TAB NZ lists cash-out on selected markets; an offer that does not list cash-out is a clear choice.
Live betting is in-app for TAB NZ and Betcha. The margin on live betting is wider than on pre-match; the price moves fast. A punter who treats live betting as a quick read on momentum pays the wider margin every time.
The settlement of a disputed bet goes through TAB NZ’s customer service first; escalation reaches the Department of Internal Affairs if the dispute is not resolved. The route is real and tested. Offshore brands route disputes through their own customer service, and where they hold a Curaçao licence, the only additional recourse is the Curaçao Gaming Control Board — a body that, again, does not act for a New Zealand punter.
The reviewed bookmakers: what each one is
| Brand | New Zealand status | Operator terms |
|---|---|---|
| TAB | TAB NZ brand | Fixed-odds and tote markets; apps include Trackside streaming, racing form, and Blackbook |
| Betcha | TAB NZ brand | App-based betting on racing and sports; mobile-first interface |
| 22Bet | Not licensed in New Zealand | Offers 1X2, double chance, totals, handicap and tennis markets |
| RoyalistPlay | Not licensed in New Zealand | Features live betting, sports, e-sports and Predictions sections |
| Thunderpick | Not licensed in New Zealand | Esports-focused with cash-out and varied sports markets |
| Glorion | Not licensed in New Zealand | Offers pre-match, live, virtual, horse racing and entertainment markets |
| Millioner | Not licensed in New Zealand | Pre-match and live sports, virtual sports, and broad international menu |
| Rabona | Not licensed in New Zealand | Sixth sportsbook of the Soft2Bet group; sports, live and virtual |
| LegendPlay | Not licensed in New Zealand | Sports, live betting and virtuals; football, tennis, basketball focus |
| Rooster | Not licensed in New Zealand | Live betting, promotions, results, and support for six odds formats |
The ten brands below are written up to the same standard: licence position under New Zealand law, what the brand does that the others do not, and the judgment this guide makes about it. TAB and Betcha are reviewed as the lawful New Zealand options; the eight offshore brands are reviewed as background — there for the reader who meets them online, with the line clearly drawn that none of them is licensed in New Zealand.
TAB — the lawful New Zealand bookmaker
TAB is the long-running face of the New Zealand racing and sports betting monopoly. Its app covers thoroughbred, harness and greyhound racing, rugby union and rugby league, football, cricket, basketball, tennis, MMA and UFC, motorsports and selected esports, and live markets on a subset. The racing form, the live race streams and the racing-specific bet types — Quinella, Exacta, Trifecta, First Four, Quaddie, Big6 — are the deepest in New Zealand, because TAB has been the racing home for decades.
The law holds: TAB is one of the two online brands of TAB NZ, run by Entain New Zealand under a 25-year agreement signed in 2023 that returns at least $150m a year to TAB NZ for the first five years. Self-exclusion and deposit limits are integrated into the app, exclusions cross to Betcha, and help is the Gambling Helpline (0800 654 655, text 8006). For a punter who wants to bet in New Zealand lawfully, with a New Zealand regulator and a New Zealand dispute route, this is the option that ticks every box.
Betcha — TAB NZ’s mobile-first sister brand
Betcha is the second online brand of TAB NZ, launched on 6 August 2024. The product is built for a punter who wants the multi-sport menu in a cleaner interface than TAB’s racing-first one. The menu covers horse, greyhound and harness racing, rugby union, NRL, MMA and UFC, NBA, NFL, tennis, cricket, football, motorsports and esports. Entain New Zealand Limited is the publisher on the New Zealand App Store.
The wallet is shared with TAB, exclusions cross, and the safer-gambling tools are the same. Where Betcha wins against TAB is in the user interface and the multi-sport positioning; where it lags TAB is in the depth of the racing form and the racing-specific bet types. For a casual multi-sport punter who wants everything from one app, Betcha is the natural choice; for a serious racing form-reader, TAB remains the centre of gravity.
22Bet — Curaçao-licensed, not licensed in New Zealand
22Bet is not licensed in New Zealand. It holds a Curaçao licence (8048/JAZ) under TechSolutions Group N.V., a jurisdiction that licenses many online bookmakers but whose permission does not extend to taking bets from people in New Zealand. The brand’s menu is wide: 22Bet publishes more than 30 market types per event, including 1X2, Double Chance, totals, both teams to score, correct score, HT/FT, plus tennis game, set and handicap markets.
For a New Zealand punter who already has a TAB NZ account, 22Bet is a background data point. The menu is wider than TAB NZ’s menu, the cricket and football markets are deeper in places, and the live betting markets are richer in props. None of that extends New Zealand law to a Curaçao-licensed bookmaker; the published terms need full reading before claiming any offer.
RoyalistPlay — Tobique-licensed, not licensed in New Zealand
RoyalistPlay is not licensed in New Zealand. It operates a sportsbook with live betting, sports promotions, results and a schedule — football, basketball, tennis, handball, ice hockey, volleyball and table tennis are the headline sports, and the site carries a Predictions section and an E-sports section. The Tobique Gaming Commission e-gaming licence (No. 0000002) is a real licence in its own jurisdiction; the brand has no authorisation to take bets from people in New Zealand.
The offer menu (live betting, sports promotions, predictions) reads much like the wider international sportsbook template. For a New Zealand punter comparing what an offshore brand’s product looks like, the menu is a useful reference for what “another jurisdiction’s sportsbook” looks like; the regulatory position in New Zealand is clear.
Thunderpick — Curaçao-licensed, esports-first, not licensed in New Zealand
Thunderpick is not licensed in New Zealand. The brand is esports-first — Counter-Strike 2, League of Legends, Dota 2 and Valorant are the headline titles — and its sportsbook adds cash-out and markets on the Champions League, NFL and other major leagues under a Curaçao licence (OGL/2024/677/0722) held by Paloma Media B.V.
The esports-first positioning is what sets Thunderpick apart in this guide. For a New Zealand punter whose betting volume is on esports, the product menu does something an NZ-licensed operator’s menu does less of. The same regulatory caveat applies: the Curaçao licence is a real licence in its own jurisdiction and gives no permission to take bets from people in New Zealand.
Glorion — Curacao/Anjouan-licensed, broad menu, not licensed in New Zealand
Glorion is not licensed in New Zealand. The brand runs 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 has more breadth than TAB NZ in entertainment markets; the regulatory position is the same as every other offshore brand reviewed here.
The entertainment markets are the distinguishing feature for a punter curious about what an offshore bookmaker considers a sports market. Award shows and elections are not what most New Zealand punters call “sports betting”; for the regulator’s purposes, the section 74AAA prohibition covers any racing or sports bet an offshore brand takes from a person in New Zealand, regardless of subject.
Millioner — Curaçao/Anjouan-licensed, mainstream sports menu, not licensed in New Zealand
Millioner is not licensed in New Zealand. The brand runs a sportsbook with pre-match and live events on football, tennis, table tennis, basketball, ice hockey, American football and baseball, plus separate Live Betting and Virtual Sports sections. The menu is similar to the wider international sportsbook template; the regulatory position is the same as every other offshore brand reviewed here.
A punter comparing menus across the offshore brands will see a lot of overlap with Millioner. Football, tennis, basketball and ice hockey are the staples; American football and baseball add a US-sports dimension that TAB NZ carries only partly. The NZ regulatory position holds.
Rabona — Curaçao-licensed, launched 2019, not licensed in New Zealand
Rabona is not licensed in New Zealand. The brand launched on 23 December 2019 as the sixth online sportsbook of the Soft2Bet group, a multi-brand operator whose Curaçao licence is the underlying permission for the brand. The menu reads like a European-licensed sportsbook template — football, basketball, tennis, ice hockey and a wide live offering.
The longer history (since 2019) gives Rabona a deeper product than many offshore brands; the regulatory position is identical to every other offshore brand reviewed here. A New Zealand punter who already has a TAB NZ account has no off-shore reason to use Rabona in particular.
LegendPlay — Anjouan-licensed, mainstream sports, not licensed in New Zealand
LegendPlay is not licensed in New Zealand. The brand runs Sports, Live Betting and Virtual Sports sections, with football, tennis, basketball and ice hockey the headline sports. The Anjouan Gaming Authority licence is a real licence in its own jurisdiction; it gives no permission to take bets from people in New Zealand.
The product is similar in menu shape to Millioner and RoyalistPlay. The regulatory position holds.
Rooster — Tobique-licensed, not licensed in New Zealand
Rooster is not licensed in New Zealand. The brand’s sportsbook has Live, Sports Promotions, Results, Schedule, E-sports and Predictions sections, and the site supports six odds formats. The Tobique Gaming Commission e-gaming licence (No. 0000002) is held by the same operator as RoyalistPlay; it gives no permission to take bets from people in New Zealand.
The six odds formats are a small but useful detail — decimal, fractional, American, Hong Kong, Indonesian and Malaysian odds are all supported. For a New Zealand punter who already has a TAB NZ account the decimal format is the only one that matters; the regulatory position holds.
What the cost stack looks like across the board
Cost in this market falls into four bands. The bookmaker’s margin is the band a punter pays every time they place a bet, from 5% to 10% depending on the market. The bonus wagering is the band a punter pays when they claim a promotion, often a 5x to 10x turnover on the bonus base before withdrawal. The currency conversion is the band a punter pays when the stake is in NZD and the operator settles in EUR or USD. And the regulatory gap is the band a punter pays when something goes wrong and no New Zealand regulator is in the loop.
The bookmaker’s margin is unavoidable in commercial betting. A punter who reads it in the odds knows what they are paying and can shop for better lines. A punter who does not read it pays the spread.
The bonus wagering is the cost the marketing usually hides. A 100% match bonus with a 5x turnover on the bonus only is a moderate offer; the same offer written as “bonus + deposit” with a 5x turnover on the combined base is far heavier. Across the offshore brands the same headline number hides very different terms.
The currency conversion is a smaller but real cost. Offshore brands settle in EUR, USD or crypto; the punter’s bank converts at the wholesale rate plus a fee. TAB NZ settles in NZD with no conversion.
The regulatory gap is the band no punter thinks of when they sign up. The Department of Internal Affairs’s warning that overseas operators may be in jurisdictions with minimal consumer safeguards, may not return unspent credits and may not pay out large wins is the regulator’s plain answer to “what does the regulatory gap cost?” It costs what the gap costs when the gap bites.
How to read this guide if you have ten minutes
TAB NZ is the only lawful option. Open the app, complete the address and ID check, set a deposit limit before the first deposit, browse the racing form and pick a Win bet on a race to learn the bet slip. Place a $5 single at fixed odds. Watch the settlement. That’s a complete first-bet cycle in ten minutes.
Betcha is the second TAB NZ brand. Use it if the interface suits you better; the wallet, the limits and the exclusion cross to TAB.
Every other brand reviewed above is not licensed in New Zealand. Read the publicly available terms page before signing up; check the licence, the country list, the bonus terms and the responsible-gambling section. If any of those terms is silent or vague, treat the gap as a cost.
How to read this guide if you have thirty minutes
Add the same-market comparison. Open TAB NZ’s app and pick a rugby match; pull the same match from an offshore brand’s site (without signing up); compare the prices on the home win. The difference is the margin in the odds, and it is the cleanest single reading of who charges what.
Add the bonus comparison. Read TAB NZ’s latest promotion rules in the app; find an offshore brand with a comparable welcome offer and read its promotion rules. Note the turnover multiple, the minimum price and the cap on winnings. The gap between the two promotion rule sets is the gap in real cost.
Add the help-line check. Open TAB NZ’s app and find the safer-gambling tools; open an offshore brand’s help section and read the responsible-gambling content. The difference is a useful sanity check.
Frequently asked questions about sports betting in New Zealand
How do you read a sports bet form guide?
A form guide is a snapshot of recent performance: last-out finishes for runners, head-to-heads for teams, player form and conditions. Read the columns top to bottom; the most recent runs carry the most weight, and the going (track condition) and distance tell you whether the recent form is comparable to today’s race. The form guide is the raw material; the bet type is what you do with it.
Which bookmaker may lawfully take sports and racing bets in New Zealand?
TAB NZ is the only lawful provider, with TAB and Betcha as its two online brands. The Racing Industry Act 2020, section 74AAA, came into force on 28 June 2025 and says no person other than TAB NZ may offer racing or sports betting to a person in New Zealand. There is no licence register for bookmakers because there is only this one lawful provider.
How is the return on a bet worked out from the stake and the odds?
For a single bet at decimal odds, the return is stake × odds and the net profit is stake × (odds − 1). A $20 bet at 1.90 returns $38 (a $18 profit). For a multi, the odds of each leg multiply into one combined price, and that combined price is what multiplies the stake.
What is a bookmaker’s margin and how can it be seen in the odds?
The margin is the cut the bookmaker keeps on every unit bet on a market. In a two-way market priced 1.90 / 1.90, the implied probabilities sum to 105.26% — the margin is 5.0%. Tighter lines carry lower margins, three-way markets carry wider margins, live markets carry wider margins than pre-match. Reading the margin in the odds is how a punter compares the real cost across bookmakers.
What does a player lose by betting with an offshore bookmaker in New Zealand?
The Department of Internal Affairs warns that an overseas operator may be in a jurisdiction with minimal consumer safeguards, may not return unspent credits and may not pay out large wins. There is no New Zealand regulator, no New Zealand dispute route, no New Zealand harm-minimisation framework (deposit limits, time-outs, self-exclusion) reaching the offshore account, and the operator is breaking New Zealand law by serving New Zealand customers. The player does not commit an offence by placing the bet (section 19(4) of the Gambling Act 2003), but the layer of protection the Department of Internal Affairs provides does not extend to that brand.
From what age can bets be placed with TAB NZ, and what is checked when opening an account?
Betting is restricted to people aged 18 and over; the Racing Industry Act 2020, section 89, makes betting under 18 an offence. At account opening TAB NZ verifies a New Zealand address and ID. The same check is what makes the deposit limits, self-exclusion and time-out tools enforceable on the account.
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