New Zealand Betting Payment Methods

Is online betting legal in New Zealand?

For one operator. TAB NZ, the statutory betting body under the Racing Industry Act 2020, holds the land-based monopoly on sports and racing betting, and the Racing Industry Amendment Act 2025, given Royal assent on 27 June 2025 and in force since 28 June 2025, extended it online. The new section 74AAA of the Act says that no person other than TAB NZ may offer racing betting or sports betting to a person in New Zealand, “regardless of where the person is resident or incorporated”, which is written for the offshore bookmakers. The Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) monitors compliance, at TAB NZ’s expense. Before the change, the government’s own impact statement said there were no restrictions on offshore operators apart from the ban on advertising in New Zealand, and that they paid a point-of-consumption charge of 10% of gross betting revenue, about NZ$2 million in the 2024 financial year; those charges are repealed from 30 June 2026.

The bettor is not the offender. The same Act added subsection 19(4) to the Gambling Act 2003: an individual may not be convicted of an offence for placing a bet with an offshore operator in breach of section 74AAA, and the impact statement says the government chose not to ban or criminalise New Zealanders who gamble with offshore operators so as not to discourage them from seeking help. The Act contains no geo-blocking or payment-blocking duty, and the impact statement expected no internet blocking; enforcement is aimed at the operators. Every one of the 54 bookmakers on this page is such an operator: the Betandlink reviews read on 19 October 2026 show them accepting New Zealand players, and New Zealand law, since 28 June 2025, says they may not offer the bet.

Online casino games are being licensed for the first time. The Online Casino Gambling Act 2026 came into force on 1 May 2026, when advertising online casino gambling to New Zealanders became prohibited. The Secretary for Internal Affairs may issue up to 15 licences of three years, renewable for five, with no more than three per company. Expressions of interest closed on 14 August 2026; the auction of the rights to apply ran from 29 September to 12 October 2026 with 32 bidders over ten rounds, ended at NZ$15 million per licence and left 11 companies, TAB NZ among them, with the right to apply from October 2026. From 1 December 2026 a provider that has not applied must stop offering online casino gambling in New Zealand; the exemption for the others ends on 1 June 2027, and the DIA expects the licensed regime to be fully operational in 2027. The Act lets regulations set deposit limits and decide which payment methods an operator may or may not accept, credit cards being the example the Bill gives, and forbids giving credit for gambling.

Winnings are not taxed. Inland Revenue says that money won in a raffle, in Lotto or as prize money in a draw is not taxable, nor is prize money from dog, horse or trotting races through the TAB; winnings become taxable only when they are part of a taxable activity, as for a professional sportsperson.

Which payment methods work from New Zealand

Of the 54 bookmakers open to New Zealand, 46 list Visa, 43 Mastercard, 42 Neteller, 39 Bitcoin, 39 Skrill and 36 Ethereum; 28 take Paysafecard, 19 Payz, 16 Google Pay, 16 MiFinity, 15 Apple Pay, 15 Jeton, 10 Revolut Pay and 8 PayPal. None lists American Express, Diners Club, UnionPay or RuPay. The full count is in the table below; these are the rules that decide what you can use.

• Cards. New Zealand has no ban on credit cards for betting; the one rule in the pipeline is the power, in the Online Casino Gambling Act, to restrict by regulation the payment methods a licensed casino may accept, with credit cards as the example. A debit card is still the better choice: the issuer may bill a credit-card deposit to a bookmaker as a cash advance, with its own fee.
• Apple Pay and Google Pay. Both work in New Zealand (the country is on Apple’s list and on Google’s list for websites and apps), for deposits only; withdrawals go back to the card or by bank transfer.
• PayPal. PayPal admits gambling merchants only with its prior approval and only where operator and customers are in jurisdictions where the activity is permitted by law. Since 28 June 2025 no one but TAB NZ may offer sports betting to people in New Zealand; whether the eight bookmakers that list PayPal still show it to a New Zealand account is something only their cashier tells you.
• Revolut Pay. Revolut opens personal accounts for New Zealand residents, and ten bookmakers show the button, which is offered to merchants in the United Kingdom and the EEA. It pays from your Revolut balance and works only if the bookmaker accepts players from New Zealand.
• E-wallets. MiFinity and Jeton do not list New Zealand among the countries they refuse. eZeeWallet does not hold New Zealand dollars (its eleven currencies include the Australian dollar, not the NZD), so every deposit is converted. Sticpay has no local bank route for New Zealand: money leaves it by international wire at 5%.
• Cryptocurrency. No New Zealand rule on crypto deposits at bookmakers appears on the DIA pages. The 39 bookmakers that take Bitcoin include the five that take only crypto (22Bit, 1xBit, Bet25, Rainbet, Dexsport); USDT appears at 8 of them.
• Vouchers. Paysafecard is sold in New Zealand (one of the 48 countries on its table) and 28 bookmakers list it. Flexepin sells NZD vouchers through two online resellers and has a refund form for New Zealand. Neosurf is listed by 8 bookmakers and CashtoCode by 2.

Local payment methods

New Zealand has no local method of its own in the cashiers of these bookmakers: no one lists a New Zealand bank-payment service by name, and the local methods that do appear in the lists, from UPI to Interac, belong to other countries. What the 54 bookmakers offer a New Zealander is the card and e-wallet route, plus a plain bank transfer at 25 of them and a Pay by Bank button at three (bet365, Betfair and William Hill).

The one domestic route is TAB NZ, the only operator allowed to offer sports and racing betting in the country since 28 June 2025, and the eleven companies that won the right to apply for an online casino licence in October 2026, TAB NZ among them, are the candidates for the licensed casinos the DIA expects to be fully operational in 2027; winning the auction, the DIA says, does not guarantee a licence.

How to deposit and withdraw from New Zealand

• Keep the account in New Zealand dollars. 24 of the 54 bookmakers offer an NZD account; at the others every deposit and payout is converted by your card issuer or wallet, and a wallet such as Skrill charges 3.99% on each conversion.
• Know what the law says about the site. Since 28 June 2025 only TAB NZ may offer sports betting to people in New Zealand; the offshore bookmakers on this page are the operators the law is aimed at, and you commit no offence by betting with them. No New Zealand consumer protection applies to an offshore account.
• The identity check is the bookmaker’s, not the law’s. No New Zealand rule binds an offshore operator, so each bookmaker’s own terms say when it verifies name, date of birth and address, normally before the first withdrawal. Register in your own name and with the card or account you will withdraw to.
• No payment block is published. The 2025 Act contains no payment-blocking or geo-blocking duty, and the government’s impact statement expected no internet blocking; a declined card is the issuer’s own decision.
• Cheapest route: debit card in, bank transfer out. Card and bank deposits cost nothing on the bookmaker’s side; a wallet pays out at once but charges its own fee on the way to the bank (Skrill 1.75%, Sticpay 5% by international wire).
• No tax on winnings. Inland Revenue treats winnings from Lotto, raffles, draws and TAB racing as not taxable unless they are part of a taxable activity.