Inside New Zealand's Betting Boom: NZ$1.36 Billion Online And A Nation Of Punters
New Zealanders now deposit an estimated NZ$1.36 billion a year into online gambling sites, according to transaction data released by the Department of Internal Affairs on May 20, 2026.
The figure, drawn from real bank spending rather than survey estimates, sits behind a betting boom that a sports betting segment on New Zealand radio set out to explain: why more Kiwis are wagering, more often, and what that does to them.
The scale caught officials off guard. The DIA commissioned analytics firm Dot Loves Data to size the market using bank card transactions from October 2023 to September 2025.
It found monthly spend has topped NZ$100 million since March 2024, with around 360,000 customers by September 2025. Spending grew 10.5% year on year while transactions rose close to 9%, so the market is getting heavier, not just wider.
The top 15 offshore sites take 82.5% of that spend, and operators licensed in Cyprus, Gibraltar, Great Britain and Malta capture 96.3% of it. Those figures measure deposits and exclude Lotto NZ and the TAB (DIA market insights).
Where The Money Actually Goes
Domestic losses tell a separate story. The DIA's expenditure statistics, which track what gamblers lose to operators here, put total spending at NZ$2.79 billion in the 2023/24 financial year.
Pub and club pokies took the largest share at NZ$1,037 million, ahead of Lotto products at NZ$792 million, the six casinos at NZ$592 million and TAB racing and sports betting at NZ$371 million.
The offshore NZ$1.36 billion is not counted in that total, which is why regulators spent years unsure how big the real picture was.
Who Is Betting
- The New Zealand Gambling Survey 2023/24, run for Health New Zealand, found 64.1% of adults gambled in the past year, and 31.1% did so online.
- Men outbet women across almost every category: 34.9% of men bet online against 27.6% of women.
- Some 12.5% of adults placed a bet with the TAB or an overseas provider, rising to 15.9% of men against 9.3% of women.
- Horse and dog racing pulled in 9.8% of adults, and TAB betting split evenly between in person and online at 7.5% each.
The survey also flags a harm signal: among people it classed as moderate to high-risk gamblers, 21.5% had bet online with the TAB, far above the general rate (New Zealand Gambling Survey).
What Kiwis Bet On
Racing still anchors the book. TAB NZ has said horse racing has been its biggest product for more than 50 years, and that basketball is now its biggest sport, with football second, rugby league and tennis close behind, and rugby union down in sixth.
Warriors NRL matches draw around 50,000 punters, three to four times an average Super Rugby Pacific game.
Big events move the needle hardest: Entain, which operates the TAB, reported a record New Zealand Melbourne Cup turnover of NZ$13.6 million in 2025, and sports turnover jumped 72% in October 2025 to NZ$120.9 million.
Do Bettors Also Play Casino
Casino play is common but mostly land based. The survey found 11.4% of adults, about 489,000 people, had visited a New Zealand casino in the past year, peaking at 17.8% of 25 to 34 year olds.
Online pokies remain a niche 1.9%, around 81,000 adults, and skew young and male. The overlap sits offshore: the DIA report bundles online casino, sports and race betting and overseas lotteries into the same NZ$1.36 billion, and 14.6% of adults gamble on three or more activities, so the heaviest online users rarely stick to one product
Land Versus Online, And The Rules On Bonuses
The shift online is well underway. Entain's FY25 results (Entain FY25) showed New Zealand online net gaming revenue up 19% on a constant-currency basis, led by its online-only betcha brand winning customers back from offshore books.
Bonuses are where New Zealand differs sharply from most markets.
The TAB and betcha are the only operators lawfully allowed to take bets from New Zealanders, and under the Online Casino Gambling Act 2026, in force since May 1, 2026, all online casino advertising is prohibited during the transition.
Up to 15 licensed online casinos are due to launch from December 1, 2026, with new limits on inducements.
For now, any offshore casino bonus a New Zealander sees advertised is being offered outside the licensed system.
