There are several ways you can gamble in New Zealand – from getting dressed in your best and hitting the casino, to buying a lotto ticket with your groceries, to playing the online casinos from the comfort of your home.

Casinos

If you are over 20 years of age, you can go to one of the casinos located in Queenstown, Christchurch, Dunedin, Hamilton or Auckland. These casinos require tidy dress and feature a range of slot machines, card tables, table games, bar, restaurant and live music. You can also join the Players Club for added bonuses.

Online Gambling

Online gambling is a fun new way of playing the pokies, card games or table games right from the comfort of your home. You can play casino with real money and have your winnings paid into your New Zealand bank account. You can also enjoy new Zealand online casino bonuses, special offers and sign-up rewards.

New Zealand Lotto

Lotto New Zealand is New Zealand’s largest lottery company. You can buy tickets to the lottery from most supermarkets and dairies (corner stores). The lottery draw is made each week on live TV. There are also a range of scratchies that you can play for some fun instant winnings.

Sports Bets

Sports betting is a popular form of gambling in New Zealand. The TAB is the largest sports betting company in New Zealand and you can bet on most of your favourite sports including horse racing, dog racing, car racing, rugby, cricket and boxing.

In fact, Cup and Show Week is one of the South Island’s biggest events, and is a week of horse races, betting, live music and fun. Cup Day is the most celebrated day in this event with thousands of people dressing up in their best clothes – women wear beautiful dresses with big fancy hats and men dress in their finest clothes – for a fun day of watching the races, gambling, socialising and drinking.

Is Gambling Legal in New Zealand?

There are four classes of gambling that are legal in New Zealand. The first class includes simple wraffles worth up to $500 that are run by individuals and do not require licenses, through to class 4 which includes multi-million dollar lotteries and casinos that do require licenses.

Online gambling is not prohibited so long as the casino is located outside of New Zealand.

You must be 18 years of age to gamble in New Zealand, but 20 years of age to enter a casino.