Mobile betting in New Zealand: TAB and Betcha, plus what offshore apps actually deliver

Updated October 2026

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Anyone asking which betting app to install in New Zealand in 2026 will find the same answer it has carried since 28 June 2025: TAB NZ, through its two online brands TAB and Betcha, runs the only set of apps a person in New Zealand can lawfully use to bet on sports and racing. Everything else is offshore, lawfully out of reach, and pitched at a market where the operator carries no New Zealand licence and no local complaints route. That frame decides the page. The first half walks through what TAB and Betcha actually deliver to a phone: the app, the wager types, the bonus Cash that sits behind the marketing, the safer-gambling tools, the betting rules a punter needs to know. The second half is the set of offshore names most New Zealand readers will recognise from advertising or word of mouth, looked at honestly: what they offer the bettor, what they do not, and where the cost lands when New Zealand protections fall away.

*Current as of October 30, 2026 · verified against the Racing Industry Act 2020 (as amended), TAB NZ’s own app listing and the operator terms cited in this piece.*

What the bonus Cash sitting in the TAB app is actually worth

“Bonus Cash” is the headline word TAB NZ uses for the bonus bets credited to a new customer’s account. The term lands as one number — a dollar figure appearing on the app — but the value of that figure for the punter depends on what it costs to clear, what price the qualifying bets have to meet, and how long the credit has before it lapses. The Bonus Cash offer listed on the New Zealand App Store pushes new customers toward multi-leg bets through a “Mega Multi” credit of up to $50 in Bonus Cash when a multi of four or more legs falls short by a set number of legs. That refund-style structure is not free money. It is a credit that has to be turned over before it pays out as cash, and the cost of that turnover lives in two numbers: the wagering factor and the minimum price of the qualifying bets.

TAB NZ publishes those terms in its own terms pages, not on the app listing. The marketing line in the App Store description does not print the wagering multiple or the deadline, because neither helps the download. What the punter does is read the Bonus Cash and Multi Bonus terms inside the app before claiming — that is the place where the wagering factor, the minimum odds qualifying leg price, the expiry window and the markets that do not count (typically tote and certain pools) all sit in one document. Two numbers carry most of the cost: a low minimum-odds cap means only long-priced legs qualify, which drags down the chance the rollover actually clears, and a short expiry turns whatever value remains into an unbacked credit if the punter cannot run the turnover in time.

The “free bet” form is the same idea in a slightly different wrapper. A free bet — an offer where the operator stakes an amount and pays only the winnings back, not the stake — has a clear value equation: for an offer with a $10 free bet at odds of 5.00 on a market whose margin is 5%, the expected return works out at stake times odds minus one divided by odds times the payout share, in this case roughly $3.08. The point of the equation is not what the bet wins on a particular day. It is what the offer is worth averaged over many bets at that price. A free bet at shorter odds is worth less; a free bet at longer odds with a low bookmaker margin is worth more, up to the cap the operator sets on free-bet winnings. TAB NZ uses the Bonus Cash label for the same shape of value and applies its own cap on Bonus Cash winnings, so a long-priced winning leg can pay a capped amount rather than the full price.

The honest reading: TAB NZ offers are not the largest in dollar terms; they are the lawful ones, and the dollar figure the marketing carries is what the operator credits to the account, not what the punter takes out. The work below the headline is the wagering factor, the minimum price and the deadline, and the punter who skims past those reads a larger figure than the offer will actually return.

A simple worked shape for the multi-leg offer

A Multi Bonus typical of TAB NZ’s Mega Multi structure pays Bonus Cash equal to the stake (capped at $50) if a multi of four or more legs misses by exactly one leg. The credit then needs to be turned over — staked once or more times on qualifying bets at or above the published minimum price before it withdraws as cash.

A worked example: a punter stakes $20 on a four-leg multi at average odds of about 3.00 per leg (combined around 81). A single leg loses. The bonus Cash credit arrives at up to $20, capped where the multi-leg cap sits. To convert that $20 Bonus Cash into withdrawable cash under a typical 1x turnover on bets at minimum odds of 1.50, the punter has to stake roughly $20 of Bonus Cash on further qualifying bets. At a market margin of around 6%, the expected cost of running that turnover is roughly $20 times 6% = $1.20. That is the slice of the credit the bookmaker keeps on average as it converts to cash. The punter who picks longer odds keeps more of the value; the punter who picks very short favourites pulls the credit through low-margin turnovers at the lowest acceptable price and loses more of it.

The point of the arithmetic is small but real. The headline figure on the app store description is the biggest number the punter will see; the figure on the way out is smaller, and how much smaller depends on choices the punter makes after claiming.

Bonus types worth distinguishing before claiming

Three bonus shapes dominate sports-betting apps, and each one costs the punter differently.

A matched deposit bonus credits bonus funds at a percentage of the first deposit, with the bonus needing turnover before it withdraws. A 100% match up to $200 on a deposit of $200 carries a bonus balance of $200 that needs turnover at a published factor — typically 3x to 6x in this market — at a published minimum price before withdrawal. The expected cost of clearing that turnover at a 6% bookmaker margin is the turnover times 6% — significant against the deposit if the wagering factor is high.

A free bet credits a stake with no deposit and pays only the winnings back at the agreed price. The stake itself is not returned. Value per dollar of free bet rises with the odds and falls with the bookmaker’s margin and any cap on free-bet winnings. The Mega Multi Bonus is closest to this shape, with the stake not paid back if the wager itself loses outright.

A boost (a “boosted odds” offer) raises the odds on a chosen selection to a stated price for the duration of the offer. The boost is the difference between the boost price and the price the punter otherwise receives; the larger the boost and the longer the odds, the larger the value, although the operator usually caps the stake on which the boost applies. The cap matters: a boosted odds offer that pays up to $50 in extra winnings is a different number from one that pays up to $500, even when the percentage looks the same.

TAB NZ runs all three forms in some shape — bonus bets on first deposits, free-bet-style multi bonuses, and boosted odds on selected racing and sports markets. The detail of each offer’s terms decides what it is actually worth, and those terms live in the app, not on the store description.

How the TAB and Betcha apps actually work on a phone

New Zealand betting in 2026 runs through two phone interfaces that share a wallet: TAB and Betcha. Both belong to TAB NZ; both run on the same regulatory footing; both accept the same deposit methods and the same betting rules. The choice between them is mostly about feel — TAB carries the longer history and the racing form tools, Betcha presents a lighter interface aimed at sports multis.

The TAB app on iPhone and Android

The TAB app on the New Zealand App Store ships under the seller name New Zealand Racing Board and carries a 17+ age rating on the store, even though the betting age in New Zealand is 18. The app first appeared in the store on 8 September 2014, which gives it the longest continuous mobile track record of any New Zealand-licensed betting product. The current version centres on racing (thoroughbred, harness and greyhound, with greyhounds winding down from 1 August 2026), rugby union, rugby league and other sports, with both pre-match and in-play betting listed. Trackside live race streaming sits inside the app, alongside in-play betting on the same race and racing form tools such as Blackbook and Jockey Challenge.

The wager types are extensive. TAB lists Win, Place, Each Way, Quinella, Exacta, Trifecta, First Four, Double, Treble, Daily Double, Running Double, Quaddie and Big6 in its racing rules, with multis as a separate product covering several legs across different events. Same Game Multis let a punter combine legs from one match on the same betting slip — outcome, total points, first try-scorer, and so on — at combined odds. Same Race Multis do the same thing across runners and bets inside a single race. One-tap Popular Multis take a published combination of selections without the punter having to build the slip leg by leg. Place Extra extends the place terms on selected races so a punt can back a runner to finish as high as tenth, which broadens the pool on long-field races.

The deposit flow runs through a simplified wallet: a card or bank deposit pays funds into the account, the funds become available for betting, and withdrawals flow back through the same channel. The app does not handle funds in crypto. It handles the safer-gambling tools in the same place: deposit limits, time-outs, self-exclusion, and a link to the Gambling Helpline 0800 654 655 (text 8006) on the responsible-gambling panel.

The Betcha app on iPhone and Android

Betcha is the newer brand and ships from a different seller: Entain New Zealand Limited published the app to the New Zealand App Store, with a first release on 6 August 2024. The age rating on the store is again 17+, but the betting age remains 18. The app carries Safer Betting tools — the same deposit limits, time-outs and self-exclusion as TAB — and the same Gambling Helpline numbers. Betcha is positioned as the sports and racing betting interface for the same account infrastructure: a TAB NZ account unlocks both apps under the same wallet.

What the punter choosing between the two is choosing is presentation and product emphasis. TAB carries the racing form weight, the Blackbook tool, and the longer history of product development. Betcha carries a lighter racing and sports interface, with the same betting rules underneath. Both apps share the same Safer Betting controls, and any self-exclusion set on one flows across both, because they sit under the same TAB NZ account.

Browser-based mobile and the punter who does not install an app

A punter who does not want to install an app can use the mobile sites of TAB and Betcha in any modern phone browser. The browser versions run the same wallet, the same markets and the same safer-gambling tools as the apps. The app adds Trackside live race streaming in a way the mobile browser does not replicate, but for everything else the browser is enough.

Offshore operators all run mobile sites and most run their own iOS and Android apps in some form. None of those apps is in scope for this article as a New Zealand betting product, because the law puts liability on the offshore operator for serving a New Zealand punter and warns that the offshore protections are not the same as the New Zealand ones.

What a betting app’s quality really depends on

A betting app is mostly software; the things that decide whether it is worth the punter’s attention sit in a small number of places.

The betting slip. A weak betting slip hides the stake, the combined odds and the potential return behind a menu; a strong one shows all three on one screen and lets the punter set the stake by tapping. TAB’s slip is solid for racing — Win, Place and Each Way sit on the racing card with one tap, and Same Race Multis build themselves leg by leg. The sports slip is more verbose and easy to misread on a small screen at speed.

The market depth. An app with five markets per match is a thin app. An app with the standard 1X2, line, totals, player props and same-game multis is a working app. TAB’s depth on rugby union and rugby league is strong because those sports matter in New Zealand; depth on smaller sports (volleyball, table tennis) is shallower, and the punter expects varied spreads depending on the fixture.

The in-play experience. Live betting means refresh times under five seconds on phones in good mobile coverage. In-play on TAB covers racing in detail and major sports in summary; in-play on smaller sports is patchy and the punter uses it with care.

The race stream. Live race streaming inside the app, with the betting slip on the same screen, is the single biggest edge TAB carries over an offshore racing product for a New Zealand punter who bets on horse racing. The combination of form, stream and slip in one app is rare.

The wallet. The way money moves in and out matters more than the marketing. Card and bank transfer are fast at TAB; withdrawals flow through the same channel; the wallet page lists the safer-gambling tools alongside the balance. A punter who has used two or three wallets across offshore brands will notice that TAB’s wallet reads as a small bank account, while offshore wallets read as prepaid cards.

The track record of the operator. TAB NZ has the only licence in New Zealand and a regulator behind it. Offshore operators listed in the second half of the page do not, and that fact outranks every app-level detail.

Who can lawfully bet in New Zealand and what the regulator says

The Racing Industry Amendment Act 2025 inserted section 74AAA into the Racing Industry Act 2020. In force since 28 June 2025, the section 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. The Department of Internal Affairs, the gambling regulator under the Gambling Act 2003, told providers serving New Zealand to withdraw with immediate effect when the change came in.

There is no licensing route for another bookmaker and no licence register for betting, because the law does not contemplate more than one operator. The Casino Gambling Act in force from 2026 will set up a register for online casinos, but it does not license sports betting; TAB New Zealand winning the right to apply for a casino licence does not extend the betting monopoly.

TAB NZ runs the operation under a 25-year agreement with Entain signed in 2023. Entain takes a 50/50 share of gross profits, with TAB NZ receiving at least $150m a year for the first five years, and a one-off $100m payment from Entain to the racing sector. The two online brands that fall out of this arrangement — TAB and Betcha — are not rivals; they are two windows into the same account.

The ban covers events held inside and outside New Zealand. Greyhound racing is closing in stages from 1 August 2026, so offshore operators cannot lawfully take bets on greyhound races from that date either. The Department of Internal Affairs has not stated a per-bet cap; the limits that exist on TAB NZ bets are operator-level and come from TAB’s own terms.

The Department of Internal Affairs also warned players about the risks of using offshore operators: minimal consumer safeguards, possible refusal to return unspent credits, possible refusal to pay out large wins, and no local complaints route. Those warnings are the regulator’s own. They are not legal advice to the punter; they are a regulator describing the gap it sees.

What a New Zealand punter faces if they bet offshore

The law targets the operator. 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 betting operator in breach of section 74AAA; no published penalty for a player was found. So the legal risk for a punter in New Zealand using an offshore brand is not a fine or a charge under section 74AAA. The risk sits in the absence of the protections the New Zealand regime sets up.

A New Zealand punter who pays into an offshore account has no Department of Internal Affairs recourse if a withdrawal is slow, refused or disputed. No New Zealand complaints framework reaches an offshore operator. The punter’s only route is the offshore regulator named in the operator’s terms — if that regulator exists — and the regulator’s consumer-protection level, which is well below New Zealand’s on most of the named offshore brands in this page. That is what “no New Zealand complaints route or harm-minimisation framework reaches it” means in plain language.

The currency question is also live. An offshore operator running in Euro or US dollars puts a foreign-exchange line into every deposit and withdrawal. The punter pays the spread twice — going in and coming out — and the cost is not visible in any headline odds or bonus figure. A $20 deposit at NZ$1 to €0.55 costs the punter something on the way in, and a similar cost on the way back; nothing in the bonus offer pays for that.

What the law does to the affiliate layer

Because only TAB NZ may offer betting here, the Department of Internal Affairs reads the prohibition as covering the promotion of another operator’s betting to New Zealand residents. How the regulator treats betting affiliates is not established. The page does not invite readers to sign up with an offshore brand; it sets out the offshore brands as described, rated by the same criteria, and ends the operator write-ups with a verdict that says what each brand actually suits the punter it serves.

Safer gambling on the TAB and Betcha apps

New Zealand’s harm-minimisation framework runs through TAB NZ’s app, the Gambling Helpline and Safer Gambling Aotearoa. The app is the place most of the controls live.

The age for betting with TAB NZ is 18. Betting under 18 is an offence under section 89 of the Racing Industry Act 2020. Account opening at TAB NZ requires a verified New Zealand address and identity document; the age of 18 is checked at that step. Land-based casinos in New Zealand have a higher age limit (20), and the two are never merged — a punter who is 18 can bet on sports through TAB but cannot enter a land-based casino floor.

Deposit limits. A daily, weekly or monthly deposit cap can be set inside the wallet. Once set, the limit takes effect immediately or after a cooling-off period, depending on the change. Lowering the limit is usually immediate; raising it usually takes 24 hours or more, to stop a punter in the moment from lifting their own ceiling.

Time-out. A punter can suspend the account for a set number of days or weeks. Time-outs can be set for short breaks (a weekend off, a week) or longer periods. The account unlocks automatically at the end of the time-out.

Self-exclusion. A punter can exclude from TAB and Betcha at the same time (because the two brands share an account). The exclusion runs for a chosen minimum period and is not lifted on request. The exclusion applies across racing and sports betting; it does not by itself exclude from online casinos, which sit under separate legislation and a different register.

The Gambling Helpline. The free helpline is 0800 654 655, with a text line at 8006. The helpline operates around the clock. The app shows the number on its responsible-gambling page.

TAB NZ pays a Problem Gambling Levy of 0.74% for the period from 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2028. The levy funds harm-minimisation services, including the Gambling Helpline. The levy is built into TAB NZ’s economics; it is not visible on the betting slip.

Help outside the app. Safer Gambling Aotearoa runs education and support services across the country, with regional teams. The helpline can route to those services. The Department of Internal Affairs’s website lists current harm-minimisation programmes and any new code changes. A punter who prefers to read a written framework than call a helpline can start there.

What the offshore brands do not carry

Offshore brands do not run under New Zealand’s harm-minimisation framework. They may carry safer-gambling tools of their own (deposit limits, time-outs, self-exclusion), but the regulator behind those tools is not the Department of Internal Affairs. Tools exist on many offshore apps; the New Zealand framework does not reach them. A punter who sets a deposit limit on an offshore app is bound by that offshore app’s terms, not by New Zealand law.

Reading the offer pages without the marketing glaze

Bookmakers write their offer pages in one register: large headline figures, small print at the bottom of a long page, and a terms-of-use link that opens in a separate tab. The punter who reads the offer as advertised gets a number; the punter who reads the offer as the operator intends gets a smaller number. Three things on the offer page decide which reading is closer to the truth.

The wagering factor. The wagering factor (also called the rollover) is the number of times the bonus has to be staked before it withdraws as cash. A 1x factor means the bonus has to be staked once. A 6x factor means it has to be staked six times. The wagering factor on TAB’s Mega Multi Bonus is published in the Bonus Cash terms and is part of what decides how much of the credited Bonus Cash actually leaves the app as cash.

The minimum price. The minimum odds at which a qualifying bet has to be placed for a stake to count toward the wagering. A low minimum price (1.20) lets most bets count. A high minimum price (1.80 or 2.00) restricts the wagering to longer-priced selections, which on average have a wider bookmaker margin and a lower chance of winning. A wagering factor at a high minimum price clears slowly. The punter who picks all favourites at the minimum price clears the rollover; the punter who picks long-priced legs goes through more volume to do it.

The cap on bonus winnings. The maximum amount of cash a winning boosted or bonus bet can pay out. A capped bonus protects the operator from a long-priced winner and limits the punter’s upside. Caps show on TAB’s bonus Cash terms and on most free-bet offers on other apps.

The deadline. The window in which the wagering has to be completed. A long window is workable; a short window (under 30 days) eats into the credit if the punter has a busy period. The window on TAB NZ’s Mega Multi is in the terms; the punter who intends to claim notes it on the same page as the wagering factor.

The games that count. Some markets (tote, certain pools, low-margin sports) do not count toward wagering at the same weight, or do not count at all. The list lives in the terms. The punter who places all their wagering on Win bets at 1.20 minimum is treating the bonus as cash; the punter who mixes in a tote bet is not.

The lesson for the punter is the same as the lesson for any consumer of complex offers. The price on the page is not the price on the way out. The price on the way out is the wage after turnover at the minimum price under the published market margin, with the cap on winnings applied.

A primer on how betting markets actually decide what a bet is worth

A bookmaker’s margin sits inside every price. The “overround” — the gap between the true probabilities of all outcomes and the prices on offer — is the slice of every stake the bookmaker keeps on average. A two-outcome market with both outcomes at 1.91 has an overround of about 4.7%. The punter who backs both outcomes pays $1 in and gets about $0.95 back across both bets. That 5% is the bookmaker’s margin, paid by the punter, every bet, and silently compounded across a punter’s account.

The same calculation on a three-outcome market (1X2) gives a different margin. A football match priced at 2.10 / 3.40 / 3.60 has a payout share of 1 / (1/2.10 + 1/3.40 + 1/3.60) = roughly 0.928, so the margin is about 7.2% — higher than the two-outcome case because the bookmaker’s edge spreads across more outcomes. Markets with many outcomes (correct score, first goalscorer, exact score multis) carry higher margins; markets with two outcomes (over/under on a total, head-to-head) carry lower margins. The punter who plays the lower-margin markets pays less for the privilege of betting; the punter who plays the exotic markets pays more.

Free bets and bonus Cash have one extra layer on top of the margin. Because the free-bet stake is not returned with a win, the effective price is the price the bookmaker offers plus the marginal cost of not returning the stake. A free bet at 5.00 with no stake return has a true expected return of roughly 0.80 times the price minus one, divided by the price — about 0.64 of the headline odds. That is the number the punter keeps in mind when an offer claims a “boost” of $500 on a free bet at 5.00; the boost is real, but the underlying free bet pays less than its face value suggests.

The market margin on racing (Win/Place) is typically tighter than on sports (1X2), because the racing form is more knowable and the bookmakers compete. The market margin on smaller sports and novelty markets is wider. The punter who plays mostly racing on TAB pays a lower average margin than the punter who plays mostly small-market sports on the same app.

The offshore brands a New Zealand punter will recognise

The brands below are presented because New Zealand players will have encountered them in advertising or word of mouth. None of them is licensed in New Zealand; none of them is a lawful New Zealand betting option under section 74AAA of the Racing Industry Act 2020. The rating is by the same criteria — markets, app, offers, withdrawal friction — and the verdict at the end of each block says what each brand is for the punter who intends to use it.

The brands come in two groups: TAB and Betcha (the lawful New Zealand options) and the offshore brands (BillyBets, Alawin, RTbet, FunBet, 22Bet, Rooster, Golden Panda, Winz,…

TAB

TAB is one of two online brands of TAB NZ, the only provider lawfully offering racing and sports betting to people in New Zealand. The licence is section 74AAA of the Racing Industry Act 2020; the regulator is the Department of Internal Affairs. The app carries racing, rugby union and rugby league, other sports, pre-match and in-play, with Trackside live race streaming inside the app and form tools (Blackbook, Jockey Challenge) on the racing page.

The wallet is a New Zealand bank-account-style wallet; deposits and withdrawals run through the same New Zealand payment methods the punter uses elsewhere; the safer-gambling tools (deposit limits, time-outs, self-exclusion) sit on the wallet page. The Bonus Cash terms sit inside the app; the wagering factor, minimum price, expiry window and excluded markets are in the Bonus Cash terms document. The marketing on the App Store pulls the offers toward multi-leg bets; the Bonus Cash payout on a missed multi lands as a credit, not as a refund in cash, and the credit has to clear wagering before it pays out.

TAB carries Same Race Multis and Same Game Multis on the slip, plus one-tap Popular Multis on the racing card. The racing form is the deepest part of the app. The sports depth is strong on rugby union, rugby league and cricket, and shallower on smaller sports.

The verdict on TAB is that it is the only choice a New Zealand punter can make without paying for the absence of a regulator’s protection. The offer is not the largest in the market; it is the only one inside New Zealand’s harm-minimisation framework, the only one backed by the Department of Internal Affairs, and the only one with a New Zealand complaints route. The punter who wants the largest bonus in dollar terms will not find it here; the punter who wants a regulated product will.

Betcha

Betcha is the second online brand of TAB NZ, published on the New Zealand App Store by Entain New Zealand Limited. The licence is the same section 74AAA; the regulator is the same Department of Internal Affairs; the wallet is shared with TAB; the safer-gambling tools are the same. The presentation is lighter than TAB, with a sports-led interface and the same racing product underneath.

The Betcha app carries the same 17+ age rating as TAB on the App Store, even though the betting age in New Zealand is 18. The app was first released on 6 August 2024, making it the newer of the two brands. The safer-gambling tools (deposit limits, time-outs, self-exclusion) and the Gambling Helpline (0800 654 655) sit on the app. The Betcha betting rules mirror TAB’s; the offering is a different presentation, not a different set of markets.

The verdict on Betcha is that it is the same TAB NZ product through a different front door. The punter who finds the TAB interface busy will find Betcha easier to navigate; the punter who wants the Blackbook and the racing form tools in their full form will find TAB more useful. Both apps share the wallet, the exclusions and the Bonus Cash terms, so the only real choice is presentation.

BillyBets

BillyBets is an offshore brand that supports customers 24/7 through live chat and a Help Centre, and runs on Android and iOS devices through a mobile-optimised platform. The cashier page offers New Zealand in the country selector, but the only currency filter shown on the page is Euro — which means the punter depositing from a New Zealand bank account pays the foreign-exchange spread on the deposit and again on the withdrawal.

The brand names no licence that applies in New Zealand. The Department of Internal Affairs’s warning to New Zealand players about offshore operators — minimal consumer safeguards, possible refusal to return unspent credits, possible refusal to pay out large wins — applies to BillyBets. No New Zealand complaints route reaches it; no harm-minimisation framework backed by the New Zealand regulator reaches it.

The verdict on BillyBets is that it is a usable offshore bookmaker and casino outside New Zealand, with 24/7 support and a mobile-optimised interface, but the Euro currency filter means a New Zealand punter pays a hidden foreign-exchange cost on every transaction. The New Zealand punter who reaches BillyBets from a search ad is paying for the privilege of betting in a market the regulator has warned about, with no local complaints framework.

Alawin

Alawin accepts customers aged 18 or over only. The age check is in the terms; the brand names no licence that applies in New Zealand; the platform runs offshore. The support structure and app availability for a New Zealand punter are not in scope for a New Zealand recommendation.

The verdict on Alawin is that the 18+ age floor matches the New Zealand betting age, but the licence gap is real. A New Zealand punter faces the same lack of regulator backing and the same DIA warnings as on BillyBets.

RTbet

RTbet’s sportsbook covers football, tennis, table tennis, basketball, ice hockey, American football and baseball, with live betting and virtual sports. The brand carries a Curaçao licence, which gives no right to take bets from people in New Zealand. No New Zealand complaints route or harm-minimisation framework reaches it.

The verdict on RTbet is that the sportsbook is broad on the major US and European sports and shallow on rugby union and rugby league — the New Zealand-facing sports. The Curaçao licence is a foreign licence for a non-New Zealand market, not a sign of approval to take New Zealand bets. A New Zealand punter who likes the breadth on offer pays the same regulator-side gap.

FunBet

FunBet’s sportsbook offers odds on football, ice hockey, American football, basketball, volleyball, tennis, rugby and baseball, with live betting and a bookmaker described as open 24/7. The brand carries no licence that applies in New Zealand. No New Zealand complaints route reaches it.

The verdict on FunBet is that the 24/7 bookmaker opening is unusual in a market most offshore operators handle through a smaller live-betting window, and the rugby coverage is unusually broad for an offshore bookmaker. The regulator gap remains: no New Zealand licence, no New Zealand complaints framework, and the DIA’s offshore-player warnings stand.

22Bet

22Bet runs under TechSolutions Group N.V., a Curaçao company with registration number 144920, which also runs 20Bet, Bizzo and National Casino. The Curaçao licence number tied to 22Bet is 8048/JAZ. Curaçao licences do not authorise taking bets from people in New Zealand.

The verdict on 22Bet is that 22Bet is a large offshore bookmaker with a wide betting product and a brand group behind it, but the Curaçao licence is a foreign licence for a non-New Zealand market. No New Zealand complaints route reaches it; no New Zealand harm-minimisation framework reaches it.

Rooster

Rooster runs under Novatrix SRL, a company incorporated in Costa Rica with registration number 3-102-893958, under e-gaming licence No. 0000002 issued by the Tobique Gaming Commission. Tobique licences do not authorise taking bets from people in New Zealand.

The verdict on Rooster is that the licence is a foreign licence at a regulator whose consumer-protection record in this market is not comparable to New Zealand’s. No New Zealand complaints route reaches it; no New Zealand harm-minimisation framework reaches it.

Golden Panda

Golden Panda carries a Sports section with a sportsbook, esports and virtual sports, plus casino, live casino, crash games, rewards, cashback, a VIP Club, Golden Goals and Prediction Markets. The brand names no licence that applies in New Zealand. No New Zealand complaints route reaches it.

The verdict on Golden Panda is that it is a casino-led offshore product with a sports section that is broader on casino-adjacent games (crash, prediction markets) than on rugby union or rugby league. The regulator gap is the same as the rest of the offshore group: no New Zealand licence, no New Zealand complaints framework.

Winz

Winz states in its footer that it holds a licence delivered by Anjouan and Tobique. Neither licence authorises taking bets from people in New Zealand. No New Zealand complaints route reaches it; no New Zealand harm-minimisation framework reaches it.

The verdict on Winz is that it is a crypto-friendly offshore bookmaker and casino with a multi-licence footer, but the New Zealand punter faces the same absence of regulator backing and the same DIA warnings as on the rest of the offshore group.

How TAB and the eight offshore brands compare on what matters

A comparison on the matter the page is about has to be honest about what each row says. The table below lists what is publicly known about each brand on the page’s key columns. Where the brand says nothing about a column, the cell carries the article-language no-data marker.

The table is honest about what most offshore brands publish. The wagering & offer-terms column is not so thin because the brands refuse to disclose; it is thin because the brands in the page’s scope are mostly casino-led operators whose sportsbooks are an aside, and the bonus terms sit on the offer page rather than as a regulatory disclosure. The punter who wants the wagering factor and minimum price for an offshore brand reads the offer page itself; the punter who wants the same numbers for TAB reads the Bonus Cash terms inside the app.

The reading behind the numbers on a betting slip

Decimal odds are how a TAB slip reads every price. An odds of 3.00 pays back three dollars for every dollar staked, including the stake: a $10 bet at 3.00 returns $30 if it wins. The net profit is the return minus the stake: $20.

The formula for return is stake times odds. The formula for net profit is stake times odds minus one. Multiplying the odds of two or more legs gives the combined price of a multi. A four-leg multi with legs at 1.80, 2.00, 2.50 and 3.00 has a combined price of 1.80 × 2.00 × 2.50 × 3.00 = 27.00; a $5 stake at 27.00 returns $135 if all four legs win, for a net profit of $130.

A live in-play bet multiplies the same way, with the odds updating while the match is in progress. A Same Game Multi on rugby union — match winner, total points over 40.5, first try-scorer — combines three legs into one slip at a combined price; the punter does not multiply the three prices by hand, the slip does it, but the maths works the same way. One leg fails and the multi fails.

The punter who reads the slip as the price written on it sees a number; the punter who reads the slip as the actual probability implied by the price sees the chance the bookmaker thinks the selection has of winning, plus the margin. An odds of 2.00 is a fair price on a 50-50 outcome with no margin; an odds of 1.91 on the same outcome gives a probability of 52.4% and a margin of about 4.8%. The 4.8% is the slice of every $1 staked at that price that the bookmaker keeps on average across both outcomes. The same maths on the four-leg multi above implies a probability of about 3.7% — a low one, because the four legs are correlated to a degree and the bookmaker has stacked a margin onto each leg.

How to read the overround on the racing card

A TAB racing card prices a field of eight runners with Win markets on each. Adding up the implied probabilities — 1 divided by each price — gives a total over 100%. That excess is the bookmaker’s margin. A card where the eight runners sum to 110% gives a margin of about 9% — typical for a small-field race at TAB. A card where the field sums to 120% gives a margin of 17% — typical for a field where the bookmaker cannot price each runner confidently.

The punter does not have to do this calculation to choose a race; the bookmaker’s job is to set the prices, and the punter’s job is to take the price that looks short enough for the runner’s chance. The arithmetic is here so the punter who has heard “margin” and wondered what it means can see it on a card.

Practical scenarios a New Zealand punter thinks through

A few setups come up often in a punter’s life. The page covers them so a reader does not have to reconstruct them on their own.

The racing fan who wants live streaming and form

The TAB app carries Trackside live race streaming inside the betting interface, with Blackbook and Jockey Challenge on the racing page. A punter who watches races on the app and bets into the same slip has a self-contained product — the racing fan does not have to leave the app for live vision or for form. The Bonus Cash terms apply on top, and the safer-gambling tools are on the wallet page.

The punter who wants live streaming for racing on a phone has one lawful choice in New Zealand. Offshore bookmakers stream major overseas racing fixtures but not New Zealand domestic racing in scope for this page. The TAB app is the law and the only stream for New Zealand racing.

The rugby punter who plays Same Game Multis

A rugby union punter plays Same Game Multis on All Blacks and Super Rugby Pacific matches. The TAB slip supports outcome, total points, first try-scorer, and similar markets in one combined bet. The Mega Multi Bonus pays Bonus Cash if the multi misses by exactly one leg, and the credit clears through the wagering factor at the minimum price.

The punter who plays SGMs mostly on overseas operators will find the same markets on TAB at a tighter margin on rugby union. The punter who plays SGMs on overseas operators for some other reason — odds comparison, exotic markets — plays those operators under the offshore-licence gap and pays the absence of New Zealand protections.

The casual weekend punter on a $20 budget

A punter with a weekend $20 budget wants to place a few small bets, not clear any bonus. The right move is to skip the bonus and treat the deposit as cash, betting on markets at the lowest published margin. On TAB, that means racing at tighter margins, or 1X2 on major sports with totals as the secondary market. The punter’s $20 is then a $20 stake, not a $20 deposit with a $20 bonus needing turnover.

The punter who claims a Bonus Cash and then forgets the wagering factor leaves the bonus un-cleared and possibly lapsed. The punter who skips the bonus entirely pays no wagering and walks away with whatever the bets won. The “free” $20 of bonus is not free; the $20 not claimed is.

The punter who has just realised they are chasing losses

A punter who has just realised they are chasing losses — placing bigger stakes to make up for losses rather than because the price is right — has the deposit limit and time-out tools on the TAB wallet. The punter sets a daily cap, takes a seven-day time-out, and uses the Gambling Helpline if the urge to lift the limit does not pass.

The offshore brands carry their own safer-gambling tools, but those tools are not under New Zealand’s harm-minimisation framework. The punter who prefers to be inside the New Zealand framework when they need help bets on TAB and uses the helpline.

The punter moving from overseas back to New Zealand

A punter moving back to New Zealand from overseas, who has used a non-New Zealand-licensed bookmaker before, will find their existing offshore account still works from New Zealand but is now against New Zealand law on the operator side. The punter opens a TAB account, sets deposit limits from day one, and stops using the offshore brand for New Zealand bets.

The punter who keeps a single offshore account open for betting on overseas racing while in New Zealand is still using an operator that is in breach of section 74AAA. The Department of Internal Affairs has not stated a player-side penalty for that; the regulator’s warnings about unspent credits and large-win non-payment still stand.

Where the responsible gambling framework is heading

The Online Casino Gambling Act 2026 licenses online casino gambling only; it does not extend the betting monopoly. The Department of Internal Affairs’s remit expands to cover online casinos under the new act, and a national online casino exclusion register will be set up under that regime. The register does not cover sports and racing betting through TAB NZ, so self-exclusion from sports betting still runs through TAB NZ’s own controls.

Greyhound racing in New Zealand closes in stages from 1 August 2026. After that date, no operator — onshore or offshore — may lawfully take bets on greyhound races in New Zealand. The current greyhound meetings on TAB wind down across the closure window.

The point-of-consumption charge on offshore racing and sports bets ceased on 30 June 2026. The duty did not legalise the offers; it only collected revenue from them. With the duty ended, the prohibition under section 74AAA is the only relevant rule, and it sits on the operator side.

The Problem Gambling Levy at 0.74% runs from 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2028. The levy funds harm-minimisation services, including the Gambling Helpline and Safer Gambling Aotearoa. A future change in the levy rate changes the funding level for those services without changing the harm-minimisation framework the punter sees.

What the punter takes away from 2026

A New Zealand punter in 2026 chooses one of two frames. The first is the lawful one: TAB NZ’s TAB and Betcha apps, regulated by the Department of Internal Affairs under section 74AAA of the Racing Industry Act 2020, with deposit limits, time-outs and self-exclusion on the wallet page, the Gambling Helpline on the responsible-gambling panel, and a New Zealand complaints route.

The second frame is the offshore one: BillyBets, Alawin, RTbet, FunBet, 22Bet, Rooster, Golden Panda, Winz and the rest of the names a New Zealand punter meets in passing. None of those brands is licensed in New Zealand; none of them is a lawful New Zealand betting product; all of them face the Department of Internal Affairs’s described risks for players.

The two frames are not equal in dollar terms on a single bet. The offshore brand will often quote a higher headline price or a larger bonus. They are unequal in regulator-backed protection, in dispute resolution, in harm-minimisation framework and in the data the operator must keep. The punter who picks the offshore brand pays for the larger headline with the absence of those protections. The punter who picks TAB or Betcha pays a tighter offer for the protections the regulator stands behind.

The cost of the bonus, the cost of the wagering, the deadline, the minimum price and the cap on bonus winnings apply on both sides. The arithmetic does not change with the brand; the regulator does.

Frequently asked questions about mobile betting in New Zealand

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

TAB NZ, through its two online brands TAB and Betcha, is the only provider lawfully offering racing and sports betting to people in New Zealand since section 74AAA of the Racing Industry Act 2020 came into force on 28 June 2025. The Department of Internal Affairs is the regulator. There is no licence register for other bookmakers because there is only one lawful provider.

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

The return is the stake multiplied by the decimal odds. A $20 bet at 2.50 returns $50 if it wins. The net profit is the return minus the stake, in this case $30. A combination bet multiplies the odds of its legs into one combined price. The result is what a winning bet pays back; it says nothing about whether the bet wins.

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

The bookmaker’s margin is the slice of every dollar staked that the bookmaker keeps on average across all outcomes of a market. For a two-outcome market priced at 1.91 on both sides, the implied probabilities sum to 104.7%, so the margin is 4.7%. For a three-outcome 1X2 market the implied probabilities usually sum to 107% or more, so the margin is around 7% or higher. The margin is the bookmaker’s edge, paid by the punter on every bet.

What does a player lose by betting with a bookmaker that has no New Zealand licence?

The legal risk sits 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. The practical losses are the absence of a New Zealand regulator’s recourse on a disputed withdrawal, no route through the Department of Internal Affairs on a complaint, and the regulator’s own warnings about minimal consumer safeguards and possible non-payment of large wins.

From what age can bets be placed with TAB NZ, and what is checked when opening an account?

Bets can be placed from 18. Account opening at TAB NZ requires a verified New Zealand address and identity document, and the 18+ age is checked at that step. The 17+ App Store age rating on TAB and Betcha is the store’s own rating, not the betting age; the betting age is 18. Land-based casinos in New Zealand have a higher age (20) — the two are never merged.

Are betting winnings taxed in New Zealand?

Recreational gambling winnings are generally not taxable for a New Zealand punter, and prize money from TAB horse, dog and trotting races is not taxable. A punter who bets as a business is a different case; general information, not tax advice, with Inland Revenue or an accountant as the right next stop. The operator side has its own rules; TAB NZ pays a Problem Gambling Levy of 0.74%, offshore operators pay an online gambling duty that stepped up in 2026, and a duty does not make an offer lawful.

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