TAB and Betcha are the only legal bookmakers in New Zealand. Here is what that means and how the offshore brands compare.

Updated October 2026

Licensed

Available in US

Fast payouts

18+ Only

Data current as of 31 October 2026; licences verified against the Department of Internal Affairs framework and the Racing Industry Act 2020 as amended.

Statute: who may lawfully take a bet from someone in New Zealand

A single sentence in section 74AAA of the Racing Industry Act 2020, in force since 28 June 2025, draws the line. 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 where the operator is incorporated. The Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) read that as an instruction, and told offshore providers serving New Zealand customers to withdraw with immediate effect. There is no bookmaker licence to apply for and no register of bookmakers, because there is only one lawful provider. The greyhound code closes in stages from 1 August 2026, and from that date offshore operators may not take bets on greyhound races either. What TAB NZ may offer is fixed-odds and tote betting; its rules name Win, Place, Each Way, Quinella, Exacta, Trifecta, First4, Double, Treble, Quaddie, Big6, and the multi-bet formats that mix legs across meetings or stack them inside a single event.

The point to hold onto: the prohibition is on the operator, not the player. Section 19(4) of the Gambling Act 2003, inserted in 2025, says an individual cannot be convicted for placing a bet with an offshore operator in breach of section 74AAA. No source names a player penalty. New Zealand does not geo-block bookmaker sites, so the offshore brands are reachable; what the law does is put the liability on the operator that chose to take the bet. TAB NZ and Betcha are not rivals. They are the two online brands of the same entity, TAB New Zealand, run under a 25-year partnership with Entain signed in 2023. Entain holds a 50/50 share of gross profits, TAB NZ is guaranteed at least $150m a year for the first five years, and Entain made a one-off $100m payment to the racing sector on signing.

The Online Casino Gambling Act 2026 sits next to this and is sometimes confused with it. That law licenses online casino gambling, not sports or racing betting, and TAB New Zealand winning the right to apply for a casino licence does not change the betting monopoly one way.

Wellbeing: the safeguards attached to a TAB NZ account, and what is missing offshore

A TAB NZ account comes with a New Zealand harm-minimisation framework that follows the bettor. The app lists deposit limits, time-outs and self-exclusion, and an exclusion applies across both TAB and Betcha because the two brands share the back end. Accounts require a verified New Zealand address and proof of identity; the age for betting is 18, and betting under 18 is an offence under section 89 of the Racing Industry Act 2020. Help lines run through the free Gambling Helpline on 0800 654 655, with a text line on 8006, and Safer Gambling Aotearoa for face-to-face support. TAB NZ funds a slice of the system through the Problem Gambling Levy, set at 0.74% for the period 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2028.

The offshore picture is the opposite. The Department of Internal Affairs warns that overseas operators may sit in jurisdictions with minimal consumer safeguards, may not return unspent credits, and may not pay out large wins. There is no New Zealand complaints route that reaches a Curaçao, Anjouan or Tobique licence holder, and no harm-minimisation framework imposed from Wellington follows the customer there. The point is not that the offshore brand is dishonest; the point is that the player has none of the Australian or New Zealand backstops that come with a TAB account. No New Zealand online-betting self-exclusion register exists, because the register that the 2026 casino law will require is for online casinos only. Self-excluding from TAB NZ does not stop an offshore account from accepting the same customer.

Selection, settling, staking: how a bet works on the lawful bookmakers

A bet is a contract: the punter risks a stake on an outcome at a price, the bookmaker pays the return if the outcome lands, and keeps the stake if it does not. Return on a fixed-odds bet is stake multiplied by the decimal odds; net profit is the same formula minus the stake. A multi, sometimes called an accumulator, multiplies the legs together, so a $10 stake across three legs at $2.10, $1.80 and $2.50 returns $94.50 if all three win, of which $84.50 is profit and $10 is the original stake. The same game in Same Game Multi form pulls every leg from one event, so a Super Rugby Pacific multi on the All Blacks to win, the total points to go over 47.5 and a player to score first try settles on a single match rather than a chain of fixtures. The maths is identical; the risk is concentrated.

Same Race Multis and the one-tap Popular Multis work the same way for the racing product. Place Extra is a TAB NZ feature that lets a punter back a runner to finish up to tenth in selected races, which broadens the place-payout field beyond the standard first three. The TAB NZ app also includes Trackside live race streaming, racing form, Blackbook, the Jockey Challenge, and a simplified wallet. For sport, the app covers racing, rugby union, rugby league, and other codes pre-match and live, with a 17+ App Store age rating and an 18+ rule in the actual terms.

TAB NZ runs bonus-bet promotions. New customers can receive Bonus Cash that splits across multiple bets, and the app lists a Mega Multi bonus of up to $50 in Bonus Cash when a multi of four or more legs falls short by a set number of legs. The wagering terms are TAB NZ’s own; the page does not carry a code, and any number a reader sees must be checked against the operator’s current terms before staking.

Fixtures and codes: the calendar TAB NZ covers and the price shape it sets

New Zealand’s sporting calendar runs along three rails. Thoroughbred racing sits at the centre, anchored by the Melbourne Cup in November, with harness (trots) close behind and greyhound racing closing from 1 August 2026. Super Rugby Pacific runs February to June, with the All Blacks in test rugby from July, and the Black Caps in cricket through the southern summer. The NRL fills the rugby league window, with the Warriors as the New Zealand anchor. A punter looking at a TAB NZ bet slip in mid-winter is more likely to be looking at harness racing and Super Rugby than at the spring racing carnival.

Pricing on a TAB NZ racing card reflects the pool. Fixed-odds markets are priced like any other fixed-odds book; tote (pool) bets pay a dividend that is the pool divided by the winning stake, after the operator’s take. Place Extra and Same Race Multis sit over the top. For sport, the margin is the gap between the “true” probability of an event and the implied probability of the odds, summed across every outcome of a market. A simple two-way market priced at $1.90 and $1.90 implies a return of 1 ÷ (1/1.90 + 1/1.90), or 0.95, on every dollar staked across both outcomes, leaving the bookmaker 5 cents per dollar. That 5% is the margin. It is the bookmaker’s edge on that market, before any factor is added for promotion cost or liability management. Real markets have more outcomes and a higher margin, often 7 to 10% on a major sport, and 15% or more on smaller or prop markets. The number is never on the page because it shifts with the event and the bookmaker’s liability; the idea, that every price contains a margin and a margin compounds across legs of a multi, is the one worth keeping.

Walkthrough: opening an account, placing a bet, taking a payout

A new TAB NZ account is opened in the app or at tab.co.nz. The form asks for a New Zealand address, proof of identity, and a deposit method. Once verified, the punter sets a deposit limit under the harm-minimisation menu, browses the racing or sport card, and adds selections to the bet slip. The slip shows the stake, the decimal odds, the combined price for a multi, and the maximum return. A bet placed before the start of a race or the start of a sports event is settled at the price on the slip; a bet placed live is settled at the price at the time the bet is struck, not the price when the event ends. A Same Game Multi settles on the result of the event; if any leg loses, the multi loses.

A withdrawal is processed back to the original deposit method, subject to TAB NZ’s terms. The app is published under the seller name New Zealand Racing Board, has been on the New Zealand App Store since 8 September 2014, and carries a 17+ age rating with an 18+ rule to bet. For the offshore brands, the same walkthrough runs against an unfamiliar regulator: a Curaçao, Anjouan or Tobique licence carries no New Zealand consumer protection, the age verification is the operator’s own, and the complaints route is to the licence issuer, not to a New Zealand authority. The walkthrough reads the same; the backstops do not.

Shortlist: the ten brands this page rates, and the criteria

The set of ten falls into two clearly unequal halves. TAB and Betcha are the two online brands of TAB NZ, the only operator lawfully taking racing and sports bets from people in New Zealand. The other eight are offshore brands that NZ punters meet regardless: RoyalistPlay, Glorion, Telbet, Alawin, Thunderpick, 22Bet, BigClash and Sportaza. They are listed for reference, not recommended, and each is marked “not licensed in New Zealand”. The criteria for both groups are the same: the licence position, the market coverage, the bet types and features, the payments, and the harm-minimisation tools. The verdict on each brand sits in the section that follows the table.

The reviewed bookmakers

TAB — the only lawful online bookmaker in New Zealand

TAB is one of two online brands of TAB NZ, the other being Betcha. Both sit on the same back end, both run off the Racing Industry Act 2020, and both are bound by the same harm-minimisation framework. The app has been on the New Zealand App Store since 8 September 2014, is published under the seller name New Zealand Racing Board, and carries racing, rugby union, rugby league and other sports pre-match and live. The racing product is the most developed: Trackside live streaming with in-app betting, racing form, Blackbook and Jockey Challenge tools, Same Race Multis, Same Game Multis, one-tap Popular Multis, and Place Extra for backing a runner to finish up to tenth. New customers get Bonus Cash that splits across multiple bets, and the app lists a Mega Multi bonus of up to $50 in Bonus Cash when a multi of four or more legs falls short by a set number of legs. The age rule is 18+; the App Store age rating is 17+. The terms are TAB NZ’s own; any promotion number on the page must be checked against the operator’s current terms before staking.

A TAB account is the only punt in this list that carries a New Zealand harm-minimisation framework with it. Deposit limits, time-outs and self-exclusion are in the app; an exclusion applies across both TAB and Betcha; the Problem Gambling Levy funds the Gambling Helpline and Safer Gambling Aotearoa. The dividend on a tote bet is the pool divided by the winning stake, after the operator’s take. The fixed-odds book carries a margin the punter pays on every bet, higher on small markets than on the head-to-head matchups. The verdict is the obvious one: a New Zealand punter who wants the protections of the local system bets with TAB. The catch is the absence of competition: there is no other lawful bookmaker, so the price a TAB punter gets is the price TAB NZ offers.

Betcha — TAB NZ’s second online brand, not a rival

Betcha is the second online brand of TAB NZ, launched as the online-only sibling of TAB. It runs on the same platform, the same betting rules, the same wallet, and the same exclusions. The reason it appears separately in this list is that the 2025 amendment named it as one of the two lawful online brands, and a punter who lands on Betcha rather than TAB is on the same back end. The site is aimed at a younger, digital-first audience, with the betting product trimmed to the racing and sports the app carries and the same promotions.

The Betcha verdict is structurally the same as the TAB verdict: it is the lawful path, with the New Zealand framework attached. A punter who has a TAB account has a Betcha account, because the exclusion and the identity check apply across both. The only reason to choose Betcha over TAB is the front end, and the front end is a small thing.

RoyalistPlay — Costa Rica operator, not licensed in New Zealand

RoyalistPlay is owned and operated by Novatrix SRL, a Costa Rica company with registration number 3-102-893958. The site states it holds e-gaming licence No. 0000002 from the Tobique Gaming Commission. The Tobique licence is not a New Zealand licence and gives the operator no right to take bets from people in New Zealand; the Department of Internal Affairs has said the same, telling providers serving New Zealand to withdraw with immediate effect from 28 June 2025. There is no New Zealand complaints route and no New Zealand harm-minimisation framework. The verdict is the standard offshore one: a New Zealand punter has no local backstop, the operator is in a different regulatory regime, and the price quoted is the price the operator chooses.

Glorion — no New Zealand-recognised licence

Glorion is an offshore brand with no licence statement that applies in New Zealand. Support is by live chat or email, the site states an 18+ age rule, and the betting product sits behind the usual offshore sign-up flow. The absence of a New Zealand-recognised licence is the point: section 74AAA makes the offer unlawful from the operator’s side, and there is no New Zealand complaints framework a customer can use. A punt with Glorion is a punt outside the New Zealand system, and that is the whole of the story.

Telbet — crypto sportsbook and casino, not licensed in New Zealand

Telbet describes itself as a crypto casino and sportsbook. The site carries a welcome offer described on its own terms and a sportsbook product aimed at the same offshore audience as the rest of this list. There is no New Zealand-recognised licence, no New Zealand complaints route, and no New Zealand harm-minimisation framework. The price is in the operator’s own currency of choice, the bet is in the operator’s own jurisdiction, and the backstop is whatever Curaçao, Anjouan or Tobique offers. A New Zealand punter is on their own.

Alawin — offshore, 18+ rule, no New Zealand-recognised licence

Alawin is an offshore sportsbook and casino that states an 18+ age rule on its terms. The licence position is the standard offshore one: no licence cited that applies in New Zealand, no local complaints route, no harm-minimisation framework. The verdict is the same as the rest of the offshore set.

Thunderpick — Curaçao-licensed, not licensed in New Zealand

Thunderpick is owned by Paloma Media B.V., a Curaçao company with number 146988, and the site states it operates under Curaçao Gaming Authority licence OGL/2024/677/0722. The licence is a Curaçao licence; it is not a New Zealand licence, and it gives the operator no right to take bets from people in New Zealand. There is no local complaints route, and the harm-minimisation framework is the operator’s own. The verdict is the offshore one.

22Bet — Curaçao-licensed, not licensed in New Zealand

22Bet is run by TechSolutions Group N.V., a Curaçao company with registration number 144920. The Curaçao licence number cited is 8048/JAZ, the same licence number that covers 20Bet, Bizzo and National Casino under the same TechSolutions umbrella. The licence is a Curaçao licence; it is not a New Zealand licence, and it gives the operator no right to take bets from people in New Zealand. The price and the bet are in the operator’s regime, not the New Zealand one.

BigClash — Curaçao-licensed, broad sportsbook, not licensed in New Zealand

BigClash offers pre-match and live sports betting across international and local leagues, with virtual sports and esports on FPS and MOBA titles alongside the main sportsbook. The site cites a Curaçao licence under 8048/JAZ, the same number as 22Bet’s, which is worth noting because it suggests a shared platform. The licence is not a New Zealand licence, the complaints route is not a New Zealand one, and the harm-minimisation framework is the operator’s. A New Zealand punter is on the operator’s terms.

Sportaza — Anjouan and Tobique, not licensed in New Zealand

Sportaza’s footer cites licence ALSI-202606064-FI2 from the Government of the Autonomous Island of Anjouan, while section 1.4 of the terms cites Tobique licence No. 0000067. The two citations do not match, and neither is a New Zealand licence. The operator is outside the New Zealand system, the complaints route is outside it, and the harm-minimisation framework is the operator’s. The verdict is the same as the rest of the offshore set: a New Zealand punter has no local backstop, and the price quoted is the price the operator chooses.

Fundamentals: what every punter on this page must know

The shape of the New Zealand bookmaker market in 2026 is a single lawful operator with two online brands, against a long offshore tail. The single lawful operator carries a New Zealand harm-minimisation framework, a regulator, a tax-funded help line, and an exclusion that follows the punter across both brands. The offshore tail offers more markets, more bet types and more promotions on its own terms, and carries none of that. The price the punter pays for the offshore product is the absence of the New Zealand backstop, and the price the punter pays for the TAB product is the absence of competition. Neither is a free choice. The arithmetic that decides which one fits is the punter’s own: how much of the betting activity the punter wants inside a regulated framework, and how much the punter is willing to trade for the breadth of an offshore book.

The tax position on the player side is straightforward: Inland Revenue treats recreational gambling winnings as not taxable, and prize money from TAB horse, dog and trotting races is not taxable. A punter who bets as a business is a different case, and the page is general information, not tax advice. The tax position on the operator side is the operator’s: TAB NZ pays the Problem Gambling Levy at 0.74%, and an offshore operator supplying New Zealand residents pays online gambling duty, set at 12% of profits from 1 July 2024 and rising to 16% from 1 January 2027. A duty being payable does not make an offer lawful: the page never writes that tax payment shows a bookmaker is legal.

The advertising rules are short. The Advertising Standards Authority’s Gambling Advertising Code applies to betting ads: ads must not target children under 14 or young people aged 14 to under 18, judged by context and expected audience, must not encourage harm, and must be truthful with terms available. There is no New Zealand “whistle-to-whistle” equivalent for betting. The ban covers events held inside and outside New Zealand. None of this changes the fact that, for a punter in New Zealand, the lawful bookmaker is TAB NZ, online as TAB or Betcha, and every other bookmaker is offshore on its own terms.

The arithmetic of a price: what a margin looks like on a simple market

A margin is the slice of every dollar staked that the bookmaker keeps, on average, across a market. It is the inverse of the payout share. For a two-way market with decimal odds of $1.90 and $1.90, the implied probability of each outcome is 1 ÷ 1.90, or about 52.6%, and the two probabilities sum to about 105.3%. The payout share, summed across both outcomes, is 1 ÷ 105.3%, or about 95.0%. The margin, then, is 100% minus 95.0%, or roughly 5%. That is the bookmaker’s edge on that market, before any other factor. In a band: a market priced at $1.90/$1.90 carries a margin in the order of 5%, give or take a tenth, on the assumption the two outcomes are equally likely and the bookmaker’s liability is balanced.

A market at $1.85/$1.95 carries a slightly lower margin, because the bookmaker has priced the favourite tighter. A market at $1.70/$2.20 carries a higher margin, and a three-way market at $2.50/$3.20/$2.90 carries a margin of around 7 to 8% on the average line, often higher on smaller props. The number is never one figure, because the bookmaker moves it with the liability, and the punter pays the margin on every bet, win or lose. The lesson for the punter: a margin compounds across legs of a multi, because every leg carries its own edge, and a five-leg multi at a 7% margin on each leg leaves the punter with a margin of about 30% on the combined price, before any leg loses. That is the silent cost of a long multi, and it is the reason a short multi at tight prices beats a long multi at loose prices more often than the headline odds suggest.

What the comparison found, in plain words

The ten brands on this page are not the same kind of thing. TAB and Betcha are the lawful option for a New Zealand punter, with the regulator, the help line, the deposit limit, the exclusion, and the New Zealand identity check. The eight offshore brands are the rest of the market: a Curaçao, Anjouan, Tobique or Costa Rica licence, the operator’s own age check, the operator’s own harm-minimisation, the operator’s own complaints route. The page is not a recommendation to sign up with an offshore brand, and the page is not a recommendation against one; the page is the comparison, and the comparison is the punter’s own.

The market spread tells the same story. TAB and Betcha carry the racing product the New Zealand punter is most likely to want, with the Same Race Multi, the Place Extra, the dividend on the tote and the Trackside streaming. The offshore brands carry a wider sportsbook and a casino, often on the same wallet. The promotions are on the operator’s own terms, and the price is on the operator’s own page. The punter who wants the local system bets with TAB. The punter who wants the breadth of an offshore book takes the offshore book on its own terms, and accepts that the New Zealand backstop stops at the border.

Frequently asked questions

How is a bookie set up for sports betting in New Zealand?

A bookmaker is not set up for sports betting in New Zealand by an applicant. Section 74AAA of the Racing Industry Act 2020, in force since 28 June 2025, says no person other than TAB NZ may offer racing or sports betting to a person in New Zealand. The Department of Internal Affairs read that as an instruction to offshore providers, and told them to withdraw with immediate effect. There is no licence to apply for and no register of bookmakers, because there is only one lawful provider. An overseas brand that serves a New Zealand customer is breaking New Zealand law, and the penalty for doing so is on the operator, not the player.

What is a bookie?

A bookie, short for bookmaker, is the party that takes the other side of a bet. The bookie offers a price on an outcome, the punter stakes money on that price, and the bookie pays the return if the outcome lands. The bookie’s edge is the margin built into the price, which is the gap between the implied probability of the odds and the true probability of the event. In New Zealand the lawful bookie for racing and sports is TAB NZ, online as TAB and Betcha; every other bookie is offshore and outside the New Zealand system.

What is a bookie agent?

A bookie agent is a person who takes bets on behalf of a bookmaker, usually at a retail outlet, a pub or a racecourse. The agent records the bet, takes the stake, and passes both to the bookmaker, who settles the bet at the agreed price. In New Zealand the lawful bookmaker agent structure sits inside TAB NZ, with retail outlets and on-course agents feeding the same back end. An offshore bookmaker may use agents in its own jurisdiction, but those agents are not licensed to take bets from people in New Zealand, and the bets they take are not lawful under section 74AAA.

Which bookmaker may lawfully take sports and racing bets from people in New Zealand?

TAB NZ may, through its two online brands, TAB and Betcha. The Racing Industry Act 2020 as amended by the Racing Industry Amendment Act 2025 reserves the activity to TAB NZ, and the Department of Internal Affairs told offshore providers to withdraw with immediate effect from 28 June 2025. Every other bookmaker in this comparison is marked “not licensed in New Zealand” and operates on its own licence, in its own jurisdiction, against the section 74AAA prohibition on the operator side.

How is the return on a bet worked out from the stake and the odds?

Return is the stake multiplied by the decimal odds. A $10 stake at $2.10 returns $21, of which $11 is profit and $10 is the original stake. A multi multiplies the legs together, so a three-leg multi at $2.10, $1.80 and $2.50 with a $10 stake returns $94.50 if all three win, of which $84.50 is profit. The formula is the same on every fixed-odds book, and the only thing that changes between operators is the price and the stake limit.

What is the bookmaker’s margin and how can it be seen in the odds?

The margin is the slice of every dollar staked the bookmaker keeps on a market, on average, summed across all outcomes. It is the inverse of the payout share. For a two-way market priced at $1.90 and $1.90, the implied probabilities sum to about 105.3%, the payout share is about 95.0%, and the margin is about 5%. A market at $1.85/$1.95 carries a slightly lower margin, a market at $1.70/$2.20 a higher one, and a three-way 1X2 market on football typically lands at 7 to 10% on the average line. The margin compounds across legs of a multi, which is the silent cost of a long accumulator.

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