Spread betting in New Zealand 2026 — what the market allows, and what it costs

Updated October 2026
Licensed
usAvailable in US
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18+ Only
A blank paper betting slip beside a pen on a wooden counter

Data current as of October 30, 2026, checked against the Racing Industry Act 2020 (with section 74AAA inserted by the Racing Industry Amendment Act 2025, in force from 28 June 2025) and against the Department of Internal Affairs’ public statement on unlicensed providers.

Cricket spread example: with a spread of 340–350 runs, buying at 350 wins 50 units × stake if the team scores 400 and loses 50 units × stake if it scores 300.

The shape of the market: a one-operator landscape that does not sell spread bets

In New Zealand the lawful betting market is unusually narrow. Since the Racing Industry Amendment Act 2025 inserted section 74AAA into the Racing Industry Act 2020, taking effect on 28 June 2025, only TAB NZ may offer racing betting, sports betting or any “other racing or sports betting” to a person in New Zealand, regardless of where that person is resident or incorporated. TAB and Betcha are the two online brands of TAB NZ itself, run by Entain under a 25-year agreement signed in 2023; they are not two competing bookmakers. The Department of Internal Affairs directed unlicensed providers serving New Zealand to cease operations immediately when the legislative change became effective.

That framing is the load-bearing fact for the rest of this page, and the angle this page takes is what it costs the reader. A reader searching for “spread betting in New Zealand” usually wants the financial product — the UK-style market where profit or loss is the stake times the number of points by which the result differs from the bet level, with losses not capped by a single stake. That product does not exist lawfully here. TAB NZ’s published betting definition covers fixed-odds and tote (pool) bets — Win, Place, Each Way, Quinella, Exacta, Trifecta, First4, Doubles, Trebles, Quaddie, Big6, Multis and Same Game Multis — and it does not extend to spread betting or to betting exchanges. A reader wanting spread betting as a category has, in practice, three choices: book with TAB NZ and Betcha for fixed-odds and tote; bet on a North American-style point spread through an offshore brand that the DIA has ordered to cease service; or take spread exposure through a derivative product such as a contract for difference, which is a financial instrument rather than a bet and is governed by financial-services law.

An empty football stadium with floodlight masts at dusk
In North American point-spread betting a result landing exactly on the spread is a push and the stake is refunded.

The first option is what the law is set up to support. The second is what most of this page is forced to discuss because that is what readers actually search for. The third is outside the scope of a betting comparison, but it is worth naming because it is the closest the spread-bet product itself has to a lawful home in New Zealand.

What a reader does NOT get here is a list of spread-betting providers licensed in New Zealand. There are none. The ten brands reviewed below are presented as the international context a reader will meet while looking, with TAB and Betcha as the lawful pair and the other eight marked “not licensed in New Zealand”. Reading this as a picking list is reading it wrong; the lawful choice is already made, and the comparison exists to show what the offshore option offers — and what it does not — when the reader is weighing it against TAB NZ.

What spread betting actually is — and how it differs from a fixed-odds bet

A spread bet is a form of wagering where the payoff depends on how accurate the wager is, not on a binary win or lose result. In UK sports spread betting the bookmaker quotes a range — the spread — and the bettor decides whether the outcome will be higher (buys) or lower (sells) than the quoted range. Profit or loss equals the stake multiplied by the number of points by which the actual result differs from the chosen bet level.

An empty courtroom with wooden benches in morning light
Spread betting was invented by Charles K.

The cricket spread example is the cleanest illustration. With a spread of 340–350 runs, a bettor who buys at 350 and stakes $10 per run wins 50 × $10 = $500 if the team scores 400, and loses 50 × $10 = $500 if the team scores 300. The same stake, the same result set, produces either side of zero purely on which way the bet was placed. Losses are not capped by the original stake on a single bet: a stake of $10 per run on a sell at 340, with the team scoring 500, loses 160 × $10 = $1,600, which is sixteen times the original outlay. That asymmetry is the defining cost of the product, and it is the reason financial-spread-betting providers require collateral of typically 5–10 percent of total exposure — they are not holding a stake, they are holding margin against open losses.

Two related concepts come up alongside spread betting and are worth distinguishing from it:

The North American point spread is the market that most New Zealand readers encounter when searching for spread betting options at an offshore bookmaker. The product functions like a fixed-odds bet rather than a UK sports spread, meaning the punter needs to size the stake in the way fixed-odds bets are sized — losing the stake is the maximum possible outcome, rather than risking multiples of it.

What a sports spread bet costs in plain arithmetic: reading the margin

A spread-betting price carries a margin the same way a fixed-odds price does, and the way to see it is the same on both sides: the implied probability across all outcomes of the market sums to more than 100 percent, and the gap is the bookmaker’s take.

Take an illustrative two-way market at decimal odds 1.90 / 1.90 — an even-money line, the kind a bookmaker quotes on a tightly matched game. The implied probability on each side is 1 ÷ 1.90 = 0.5263, or 52.63 percent. Both sides together imply 105.26 percent. The overround is 5.26 percent, and the bookmaker’s margin on this market is 5.0 percent. That margin is what the bookmaker keeps of every unit wagered on this market once the result is settled; equivalently, the payout share to bettors is 95.0 percent of total stakes on average.

Two things follow from the arithmetic. First, a balanced 1.90 / 1.90 line carries roughly a 5 percent margin, which is close to the lower end of what a competitive bookmaker charges. Second, the margin is fixed by the symmetry of the prices; an unbalanced market at, say, 1.50 / 2.75 implies 66.7 percent on one side and 36.4 percent on the other, summing to 103.1 percent, which is a tighter margin of around 3 percent because the bookmaker has accepted a lopsided book in exchange for keeping more of the handle.

The reader-facing gloss is the one that matters: on a competitive two-way line, expect to lose between roughly 3 and 6 percent of total stakes on average, before any offer-specific cost is layered on top. That is the price of betting itself, separate from any bonus, free bet, or sign-up deal the operator is marketing.

Legality: who may take a sports bet in New Zealand, and what offshore actually means

The statutory answer is short and there is no nuance to add. Under section 74AAA of the Racing Industry Act 2020, 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 change took effect on 28 June 2025, and the Department of Internal Affairs directed unlicensed providers to cease operations immediately. The Department monitors compliance under the Gambling Act 2003 and the betting prohibition, and the section 92A offence sits under its oversight. An official register for bookmaker licences does not exist here as there is only one authorised provider.

The reason the section exists is partly the Entain partnership. Entain runs TAB NZ under a 25-year agreement signed in 2023 that gives Entain a 50/50 share of gross profits, with at least $150 million a year going to TAB NZ for the first five years and a one-off $100 million payment to the racing sector. The commercial settlement has a regulatory shape: TAB NZ’s exclusivity is the price the racing codes are paid for their data, broadcast rights and tote operations, and the betting monopoly is what funds that payment.

The lawful side of the line has three readable characteristics:

For the operator side, the position since 1 July 2024 is that overseas operators supplying New Zealand residents owe online gambling duty of 12 percent of profits, rising to 16 percent from 1 January 2027. Payment of duty does not constitute an offer as lawful: paying tax does not override section 74AAA, and the duty has been kept precisely because the offshore market was expected to remain in breach of it. The earlier point-of-consumption charge on offshore racing and sports bets ceased on 30 June 2026, so the duty is now the only tax-side mechanism the offshore supply is paying.

For the player, the position is narrower than the headlines suggest. Section 19(4) of the Gambling Act 2003, also 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 New Zealand player was found. DIA’s public-facing material warns players of the risks — that overseas operators may be in jurisdictions with minimal consumer safeguards, may not return unspent credits and may not pay out large wins — but stops short of criminalising the act of betting offshore. The framing in plain English: New Zealand law targets the operator; DIA warns the player of the risks; no published penalty for the player has been found.

What falls outside the ban is also worth naming:

Safer gambling in New Zealand: the tools that exist, and the register that does not

Safer-gambling tools in New Zealand sit with TAB NZ, not with a national register. TAB NZ’s apps list deposit limits, time-outs and self-exclusion, and an exclusion applies across both brands. The minimum age to bet with TAB NZ is 18 (betting under 18 is an offence under section 89 of the Racing Industry Act 2020); land-based casinos are 20, and the page never merges the two thresholds. TAB NZ pays a Problem Gambling Levy of 0.74 percent, in force from 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2028, which funds harm-minimisation and treatment services.

There is no single national online-betting exclusion register. The register the 2026 online-casino law will set in motion is for online casinos only and does not include sports-betting accounts. A punter who has self-excluded from TAB NZ and Betcha can still open an account with an offshore brand, because the offshore brand does not share data with TAB NZ. The reverse is also true: a punter who has self-excluded from an offshore brand can still open a TAB NZ account, because the offshore brand has no obligation to share that exclusion with TAB NZ. Self-exclusion is a tool, not a perimeter.

The free help lines a reader can reach from New Zealand are:

Offshore brands have their own safer-gambling pages, but they are not New Zealand-facing harm-minimisation tools. Their self-exclusion lists sit with their own operators, their complaints routes sit with their own licensing jurisdictions, and their safer-gambling messaging is not regulated by the ASA’s Gambling Advertising Code. The reader-facing conclusion is the one the page repeats: a New Zealand player who needs harm-minimisation tools has them at TAB NZ and Betcha, and the offshore path is a path outside that framework.

How spread bets are placed and settled: a walkthrough of the mechanic

The mechanics are uniform across the offshore brands reviewed below, and they differ from a fixed-odds bet in three places: the bet selection, the bet sizing and the settlement.

Step 1 — pick a market. A spread-betting platform quotes a spread on a stat: total runs in a cricket innings, time of the first goal in football, the index of a horse race, the points total of an NBA game. Each market has a low and a high number. The cricket example (spread 340–350 runs) is the textbook case because the result is a clean integer; football and basketball spreads often have half-points so a result cannot land exactly on the spread.

Step 2 — pick a direction and a stake per unit. The punter chooses to buy (above the top of the spread), sell (below the bottom) or pick a price inside the spread, and chooses how much to stake per unit of movement. The total exposure — the maximum loss if the result goes the wrong way to the most extreme outcome — is the stake per unit multiplied by the spread width. The platform will display the maximum potential loss in the bet slip; on a cricket spread 340–350 with a stake of $10 per unit bought at 350, the maximum loss on the example given is 50 × $10 = $500 if the team scores 300 or fewer.

Step 3 — place and monitor. The bet sits on the platform’s books until the event settles. Mid-event cash out is sometimes available — RTbet on Tatbet offers it and Sportaza on Sportaza offers it — but the cash-out amount is fixed at the moment it is accepted, the platform does not guarantee that the feature is always available, and the price the platform offers will be wider than the underlying spread.

Step 4 — settle. The platform multiplies the stake per unit by the number of units the result differs from the bet level, applies the result as either profit (added to the account) or loss (deducted from the account). There is no “won” or “lost” in the fixed-odds sense; every bet settles to a positive or negative number, and a result landing exactly on the spread is a void — the stake is refunded. A punter who closes the bet early at a price worse than the eventual result takes the early-settlement loss instead of waiting for the larger final loss; a punter who closes early at a price better than the eventual result locks in profit.

What this walkthrough does not show is the size of the spread width. A spread of 340–350 has a width of 10 units; on a $10-per-unit stake, the maximum loss is $100 on the spread itself (a result at the buy level, i.e. exactly 350) and grows linearly from there. A spread of 320–370 has a width of 50 units and a $10-per-unit stake puts $500 at risk on the spread alone. Spread width is the single biggest determinant of risk on a spread bet, and a platform that quotes narrow spreads on the events it cares about — and wide spreads on everything else — is signalling where it expects volume to land.

What kinds of bets and sports the spread market covers

The clusters of bets that appear across the offshore brands reviewed here break down into five families, and the order they are listed in is the order a reader is most likely to meet them:

Sports and tournaments specifically covered include:

A reader who is coming to spread betting from a TAB NZ background will find the North American point-spread lines closest to a familiar fixed-odds bet, because the maximum loss on a single bet is the stake. The closer the reader moves to UK-style sports spread betting (cricket runs, football corners, time-of-first-goal), the larger the maximum loss becomes relative to the stake, and the more important the size of the spread width becomes.

The ten brands reviewed, and what each one is

The ten brands below begin with TAB and Betcha as the lawful pair, followed by the eight offshore brands that a New Zealand reader will meet while searching. The order of the offshore brands is not a ranking; each is rated against the same six criteria, and the criterion that separates them is named in their closing sentence. The description under each is qualitative, with the platforms’ own terms cited where they support a specific claim, and a closing sentence on what the platform is worth to a specific reader.

TAB — the lawful fixed-odds and tote bookmaker

TAB is one of the two online brands of TAB NZ, the only provider lawfully offering racing and sports betting to people in New Zealand as per the Racing Industry Amendment Act 2025, in force since 28 June 2025. Licensing for bookmakers is not applicable here as only one entity is authorised. TAB is the New Zealand tote, the retail outlets and the online bookmaker, and the same company owns both TAB and Betcha.

The platform covers the racing codes that are still running (thoroughbred, harness) and greyhound racing through to its staged closure starting 1 August 2026, plus a sports menu across the codes that an Australasian reader expects — Super Rugby Pacific, NRL, All Blacks tests, Black Caps cricket, Melbourne Cup day markets, Warriors NRL. The published bet types cover Win, Place, Each Way, Quinella, Exacta, Trifecta, First4, the various doubles and trebles, Quaddie and Big6, Multis and Same Game Multis (SGM), and live in-play betting is listed in the app. The platform displays odds in decimal form at two-decimal precision ($2.10 is the typical displayed price), and the bet slip shows the stake, the potential return and the maximum payout on multi bets.

The safer-gambling offering on TAB’s app includes deposit limits, time-outs and self-exclusion, with the exclusion applying across both TAB NZ brands. The app is published on the New Zealand App Store under the seller name New Zealand Racing Board, with the app first released on 8 September 2014. The minimum age is 18, betting under 18 is an offence under section 89 of the Racing Industry Act 2020, and accounts require a verified New Zealand address and ID. The free Gambling Helpline (0800 654 655, text 8006) is listed in the app.

TAB is the only place a New Zealand reader can bet on racing and sport through a New Zealand-licensed, New Zealand-regulated bookmaker with New Zealand harm-minimisation tools and a New Zealand complaints route. That is what the page is for, and a reader who has no other reason to be on this list than to find the lawful option has already found it.

Betcha — the second TAB NZ brand, with the social and tooling layer

Betcha is one of the two online brands of TAB NZ, the only provider lawfully offering racing and sports betting to people in New Zealand since 28 June 2025. The brand sits beside TAB inside the same operator (TAB New Zealand), and the relationship is two brands one operator, not two operators one market. The Entain partnership that runs TAB NZ runs Betcha on the same backend.

The product that distinguishes Betcha from TAB is the social and tooling layer. The platform runs a daily Toolbox with odds boosts and insurance tools for bets that do not land, a Bet Social section where punters chat, follow tipsters and share bets or pools, and a Playbook with tips and match analysis. The social feature is the closest the New Zealand market has to the tipster and copy-bet products that are common on offshore brands, and the insurance tools (refund-style offers on selected losing bets) are a TAB-style version of the boosted-odds and insurance products that drive sign-ups offshore.

The platform’s harm-minimisation sits in TAB NZ’s framework, not its own: deposit limits, time-outs and self-exclusion, all shared with TAB because the two brands sit under one operator. A reader who is excluded from TAB is excluded from Betcha and vice versa. The minimum age is 18, and account verification requires a New Zealand address and ID.

Betcha is the right TAB NZ brand for a reader who wants the social layer and the daily odds-boost and insurance tools and does not need a separate loyalty programme to use them; the same bet types and the same markets as TAB are available, and the safer-gambling framework is the same. A reader who is happy with TAB’s interface and does not want a social feed has no reason to switch.

Rabona — Curaçao-licensed, full Soft2Bet sportsbook

Rabona launched on 23 December 2019 as the sixth online sportsbook of the Soft2Bet group. It is a Curaçao-licensed platform that lacks legal authorisation to serve New Zealand residents. There is no local path for complaints or harm reduction, and the Department of Internal Affairs holds that these operators are expected to cease New Zealand-facing activities.

The platform runs a standard full-service sportsbook: pre-match and live markets, a bet builder, cash out where available, and a casino section that sits alongside the sportsbook. The sportsbook menu covers the major international codes a New Zealand reader expects — football, basketball, American football, tennis, cricket, MMA, esports — and the live betting menu is broad enough to cover in-play markets on most major events. The brand runs welcome offers and reload offers; the offers themselves are described qualitatively, because the value of an offer sits in its terms, not its headline.

The reason the page lists Rabona is that anyone in New Zealand searching for spread betting options will find it in search results. The brand’s product is closer to the North American point-spread product than to a UK sports-spread product: most lines are fixed-odds with a handicap attached, and the bet builder combines selections from the same event into a single bet. The maximum loss on any single line is the stake, which is the risk a New Zealand punter coming from TAB is used to.

Rabona is an option for a reader who wants a full-service international sportsbook with a bet builder and a casino. This user understands the platform operates outside the local framework, and accepts that any disputes are handled under the Curaçao licensing jurisdiction.

Sportaza — Anjouan-licensed, with a bet builder and short-interval markets

Sportaza is an Anjouan-licensed (ALSI-202606064-FI2) platform that is not authorised to serve New Zealand. Its service features cash out, a bet builder (where one void leg voids the slip), multiples, Asian handicaps, and interval markets (1, 5, 10, or 15 minutes). The brand terms highlight the bet builder rules and interval options, which offer short-window event outcomes that function similarly to UK-style spread products. This brand is suitable for a reader looking for interval-based in-play options who accepts the lack of local complaints support.

The sports menu covers football, basketball, tennis, American football, cricket, esports and MMA, with the live betting menu taking in-play markets on the major events. The cash-out function sits before settlement, and the platform’s terms make clear that the cash-out amount is fixed at the moment it is accepted and that the platform does not guarantee that the feature is always available. The brand runs a welcome package and a sports reload; the offer values are described qualitatively, not numerically, and the wagering requirements on bonuses sit in the terms rather than on the homepage.

The reason Sportaza is on the list is the bet builder and the short-interval markets. The bet builder is the practical North-American-style product for a reader who wants to combine selections from one event into one slip; the void rule on a single leg is the industry’s standard fallback and the page records it because it changes what a reader is buying. The 1, 5, 10 and 15 minute interval markets are the closest the brand gets to a true spread-bet product, and they carry the spread-bet risk profile: the size of the move in the window matters more than the binary outcome.

Sportaza is the right Anjouan-licensed brand for a reader who wants a bet builder with the explicit void rule and the short-interval in-play markets, and who accepts the Anjouan licence gives no New Zealand-facing complaints route. A reader looking for a UK-style sports-spread product will not find one on the platform.

RTbet — Curaçao-licensed, with cash out and the cash-out fixed at acceptance

RTbet operates under a Curaçao licence. The platform’s terms include three commitments for cash out: availability before market finalisation, fixed pricing at acceptance, and no guarantee of feature uptime. These commitments address the common frustration where prices move after a punter accepts a cash-out. This platform suits a reader seeking an explicitly committed cash-out feature who understands it accepts no local regulatory oversight.

The sportsbook menu covers football, basketball, tennis, American football, MMA, cricket and esports, with a live betting menu taking the in-play markets on major events. The brand runs welcome offers and reloads; the offer values are described qualitatively, and the wagering requirements sit in the terms.

The reason RTbet is on the list is that the cash-out commitment is unusually explicit on the point that matters (the price is fixed at acceptance, the feature is not guaranteed), and a reader who uses cash out as a risk tool benefits from knowing exactly what the platform promises. A reader who wants a cash-out that is more like an exchange — where the platform continues to mark the price and the punter closes at the latest mark — will not find that here.

RTbet is an option for a reader who wants a sportsbook with an explicitly committed cash-out feature. This user accepts the Curaçao licence and understands the platform does not offer a UK-style sports-spread product.

Telbet — crypto sportsbook, Russian-language welcome offer

Telbet describes itself as a crypto casino and sportsbook, with a welcome offer on its Russian-language site that includes a deposit match in BTC and a small free bet in USDT. The brand’s English-facing product is the crypto sportsbook and casino, and the licence the brand names gives no right to take bets from people in New Zealand. There is no New Zealand complaints route, and no New Zealand harm-minimisation framework reaches the brand.

The product is a crypto-native sportsbook: deposits and withdrawals in crypto, bet settlement in crypto, and a casino section that takes the same balance. The sports menu covers football, basketball, tennis, American football and esports, with live betting on the major events. The “5 USDT free bet” line on the Russian site is illustrative of the crypto-pricing of bonuses: the small USDT free bet is a typical crypto sportsbook sizing for a free-bet offer and is named here so the reader can see the format, not the value.

The reason Telbet is included is that New Zealand users will find crypto sportsbooks in their results, and Telbet is representative of that genre. The reader-facing conclusion is the standard offshore-brack one — the platform sits outside the New Zealand framework, the dispute path is the Curaçao/Anjouan/Tobique licensing jurisdiction, and the safer-gambling tools are the brand’s own, not the New Zealand framework’s.

Telbet is a platform for a reader who wants a crypto sportsbook with a USDT free bet and a BTC welcome offer. This user accepts that the licence provides no local protection and acknowledges the absence of a TAB-style account structure.

22Bet — Curaçao-licensed, broad bet-type menu

22Bet operates under a Curaçao licence (8048/JAZ), with the holder TechSolutions Group N.V., and the licence gives no right to take bets from people in New Zealand. The platform’s terms carry a specific commitment on the bet-type menu: single bets, accumulators, systems and chains, plus live betting with real-time odds and score updates. The “chains” bet type is a 22Bet-specific product that lets a punter combine selections across events into a chain where the stake of each leg is the winnings of the leg before; it is closer to a system bet than to a spread, and the brand’s commitment on the menu is the page’s reason for naming it.

The sportsbook menu covers more than 30 sports, with the major codes (football, basketball, tennis, American football, cricket, MMA, esports) taking the bulk of the volume and the niche codes (snooker, darts, futsal, beach volleyball) sitting at the back. The live betting menu is broad, and the platform carries Asian handicap lines on the major football leagues. The casino section sits alongside the sportsbook and takes the same balance.

The reason 22Bet is on the list is that the platform carries more bet types than most of its peers (single, accumulator, system and chain), and a reader who wants a Curaçao-licensed bookmaker with that menu will land here. A reader who wants the spread-bet product itself will not find it: 22Bet’s bet types are fixed-odds, and the chain bet is a stake-management tool, not a spread.

22Bet is a choice for a reader who wants a broad bet-type menu including chain bets. This user accepts the Curaçao licence terms and understands the site does not provide a spread-bet product.

Rooster.bet — Tobique Gaming Commission-licensed

Rooster.bet is operated by 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. The Tobique licence gives no right to take bets from people in New Zealand, and there is no New Zealand complaints route that reaches the brand. The brand is one of two on the list (RoyalistPlay being the other) run by the same operator, and the licence is the same on both.

The platform runs a sportsbook and casino, with the sportsbook covering football, basketball, tennis, American football, MMA and a smaller cricket menu. The bet types are fixed-odds, with a bet builder on selected events and a cash-out feature on selected markets. The welcome offer is a sportsbook deposit match plus a casino welcome, with the wagering requirements sitting in the terms.

The reason Rooster.bet appears is that the Tobique licence is a relatively recent addition to the offshore list, and New Zealand users will find the brand in search results. The reader-facing conclusion is the standard offshore-brack one: the platform sits outside the New Zealand framework, and the dispute path is the Tobique Gaming Commission rather than DIA.

Rooster.bet is a sportsbook-and-casino platform suitable for a reader who wants a combined balance and accepts the Tobique licence does not function as a local safeguard.

Spinbara — unlicensed, with a sports crypto welcome bonus

Spinbara advertises a first deposit bonus of 100% up to EUR 100 and a sport crypto welcome bonus of 100% up to 200 USDT on its English site, alongside a casino welcome bonus of 100% up to EUR 500 plus 200 free spins. The brand’s licence state is not established under any jurisdiction that gives a right to take bets from people in New Zealand, and there is no New Zealand complaints route that reaches the brand.

The platform runs a sportsbook and casino, with the sportsbook covering football, basketball, tennis, American football and esports. The casino welcome bonus (EUR 500 plus 200 free spins) is large by industry standards, and the sportsbook crypto welcome (200 USDT) is mid-sized by crypto-sportsbook standards. The brand’s safer-gambling tools are the platform’s own; there is no shared self-exclusion register and no New Zealand regulator oversight.

Spinbara provides a first deposit bonus and a cryptocurrency welcome offer. The brand holds no licence covering the New Zealand market, and lacks local complaints channels. It is a dual fiat-and-crypto sportsbook option for a reader who values a casino-focused welcome package and accepts the lack of a recognised local licensing structure. DIA’s position is that these brands are not to serve New Zealand residents.

Spinbara is a dual fiat-and-crypto sportsbook that appeals to a reader who wants a large casino welcome bonus and accepts that no recognised licence covers the platform.

Thunderpick — Curaçao-licensed, esports-heavy

Thunderpick is owned and operated by Paloma Media B.V., a Curaçao company with company number 146988, licensed by the Curaç

Thunderpick operates under the Curaçao Gaming Authority (OGL/2024/677/0722), held by Paloma Media B.V. It offers no lawful basis to offer betting to New Zealand residents. The platform focuses on esports, with a sportsbook and casino sharing the same balance. Thunderpick is a choice for a reader interested in esports betting who understands the Curaçao licence offers no local regulatory protection.

The esports menu covers the major titles (CS, Dota 2, League of Legends, Valorant, StarCraft II) and the smaller titles (Rocket League, Rainbow Six, mobile esports), with pre-match and live betting on most events. The sportsbook menu covers football, basketball, tennis, American football and MMA. The casino section sits alongside the sportsbook and esports and takes the same balance.

The reason Thunderpick is included is that New Zealand users searching for spread betting will find the brand through esports-related search terms, and the brand is representative of the esports-focused Curaçao sportsbook genre. The reader-facing conclusion is the standard offshore-brack one: the platform sits outside the New Zealand framework, the dispute path is the Curaçao Gaming Authority rather than DIA, and the safer-gambling tools are the brand’s own.

Thunderpick is the right Curaçao-licensed brand for a reader whose primary interest is esports and who wants a sportsbook and casino under the same balance, accepts the Curaçao licence, and is not looking for a New Zealand-framework bet.

What the table says — and what the table cannot

This comparison table provides a snapshot of platform offerings. It does not itemize the licensing gap, as that applies across all offshore entities listed. Bonus wagering requirements remain defined within individual terms and conditions, rather than this summary.

Brand New Zealand status What the operator’s terms state on the key subject
TAB TAB NZ brand TAB NZ’s published bet types cover Win, Place, Each Way, Quinella, Exacta, Trifecta, First4, the doubles and trebles, Quaddie and Big6, Multis and Same Game Multis, and live in-play; deposit limits, time-outs and self-exclusion listed in the app; minimum age 18; accounts require a verified New Zealand address and ID
Betcha TAB NZ brand Same TAB NZ framework as TAB; daily Toolbox with odds boosts and insurance tools on selected losing bets; Bet Social section with chat, tipsters and shared bets or pools; Playbook with tips and match analysis; self-exclusion shared with TAB
Rabona Not licensed in New Zealand Curaçao-licensed; standard full-service sportsbook with bet builder, cash out and casino alongside the sportsbook; the licence is the Soft2Bet group’s standard Curaçao structure
Sportaza Not licensed in New Zealand Anjouan-licensed (ALSI-202606064-FI2); bet builder with the rule that one void selection voids the whole betslip; cash out before settlement; Asian lines and interval markets in 1, 5, 10 or 15 minute ranges
RTbet Not licensed in New Zealand Curaçao-licensed; cash out before settlement with the cash-out amount fixed at acceptance; the platform does not guarantee that cash out is always available
Telbet Not licensed in New Zealand Crypto casino and sportsbook; BTC welcome offer and a USDT free bet on the Russian-language site; no licence that applies in New Zealand
22Bet Not licensed in New Zealand Curaçao-licensed (8048/JAZ, holder TechSolutions Group N.V.); bet types are single, accumulator, system and chain; Asian handicaps on major football; the chain bet carries forward the stake of each leg as the winnings of the next
Rooster.bet Not licensed in New Zealand Tobique Gaming Commission e-gaming licence No. 0000002, holder Novatrix SRL; sportsbook and casino under the same balance; bet builder and cash out on selected markets
Spinbara Not licensed in New Zealand Sportsbook and casino; first deposit bonus up to EUR 100, sport crypto welcome up to 200 USDT, casino welcome up to EUR 500 plus 200 free spins; no licence that applies in New Zealand
Thunderpick Not licensed in New Zealand Curaçao-licensed (OGL/2024/677/0722, holder Paloma Media B.V.); esports-heavy menu across CS, Dota 2, League of Legends, Valorant, StarCraft II and the smaller titles; sportsbook and casino alongside the esports menu

The table’s gaps are the point. A reader who wants a wagering multiple on a bonus, a minimum price on a free bet, a market margin on a specific event, or a cap on free-bet winnings does not get that information from a comparison table — those specifications sit in each operator’s own terms, change with each promotion, and are checked at the bet slip rather than in a review. The table records the operator’s own commitments on the structural features (cash-out rules, bet-builder rules, the bet-type menu, the licence state); it does not record the variable terms of any specific offer.

What a punt actually looks like in numbers

A punter at TAB NZ who places a $10 single on an All Blacks test at $2.10 decimal odds gets back $21 if the bet wins — the $10 stake plus an $11 profit — and loses the $10 if the bet loses. The payout share of a balanced $2.10 / $2.10 line is 1 ÷ (0.4762 + 0.4762) = 1 ÷ 0.9524 = 105.0 percent of total stakes implied, which is a margin of 5.0 percent; the punter expects to lose $0.50 of every $10 wagered on average across a large number of bets at this price. That is what the page records in the section on margin, with the punter’s specific numbers plugged in.

A punter at an offshore sportsbook who places a $10 single on the same All Blacks test at $1.91 decimal odds (the -110 North American point-spread line) gets back $19.10 if the bet wins, and loses $10 if it loses. The implied probability on each side is 1 ÷ 1.91 = 0.5236, or 52.36 percent, summing to 104.71 percent — a margin of 4.71 percent. The lower margin reflects the tighter price the offshore bookmaker is offering, and the punter’s expected loss per $10 staked is $0.47, slightly less than at TAB NZ on the same event.

A punter at an offshore sportsbook who places a UK-style spread bet on total points in an NBA game, with a spread of 220–225 and a $10-per-unit stake bought at 225, wins 25 × $10 = $250 if the total is 250, loses 50 × $10 = $500 if the total is 175, and loses 225 × $10 if the total is 0 (the maximum loss is the stake per unit times the full range). That is a different risk profile from a fixed-odds bet, and the punter is sizing the stake against the spread width, not against the binary outcome. The 5-percent margin arithmetic does not apply directly because the bet is not a two-way market; the equivalent cost is the spread width itself, which is the bookmaker’s edge on every spread bet.

The arithmetic is the same shape on every bet: stake times odds is the return, stake is the loss, and the gap between 100 percent implied probability and the sum across outcomes is the margin. A reader who can run the calculation can size the stake against the margin; a reader who cannot is paying whatever the bookmaker charges.

What a reader checks before placing a bet

A reader who is placing a bet at TAB NZ checks three things: that the price is the one they saw on the form (TAB NZ displays odds to two decimal places), that the bet type is the one they wanted (a Same Game Multi is one bet, not several), and that the maximum payout on a multi is within the platform’s payout cap (TAB NZ publishes its cap on multi bets in its terms). A reader who is placing a bet at an offshore sportsbook checks the same three things plus three more: that the cash-out feature (where offered) is available on the market they want, that the bet-builder void rule on the platform is the rule they expect (Sportaza voids the whole slip if one leg is void; other platforms reduce the slip), and that the licence state of the platform is the licence state they accept (the dispute path is the licence jurisdiction, not DIA).

A reader who is placing a UK-style sports spread bet checks five more: the spread width (because it sets the maximum loss), the stake per unit (because it sets the size of that loss), the cash-out feature’s availability on the market, the settlement policy on a result landing inside the spread (most platforms void), and the safer-gambling tools on the platform (self-exclusion, deposit limits, time-outs). Each of these is checked at the platform, not in a review, because each one changes with the promotion, the event and the market.

Advertising and what the ASA’s Gambling Advertising Code says

The Advertising Standards Authority’s Gambling Advertising Code applies to betting advertisements, and the relevant rules for this page are:

The ASA’s code does not contain a “whistle-to-whistle” ban on betting advertising around live sport, and the UK-style equivalent is not in place in New Zealand. The page’s geo-side restrictions sit with DIA on the offshore brand’s promotion of bets to New Zealand residents, not with the ASA on the ad creative itself. A reader who sees a TAB NZ advertisement on Sky Sport New Zealand or on a racing broadcast is seeing an ad that has cleared the ASA’s code; a reader who sees an offshore brand’s advertisement on a search engine is seeing an ad from a brand that has no New Zealand-facing regulatory check.

Taxes on the player side

Inland Revenue’s guidance says recreational gambling winnings are generally not taxable, and prize money from TAB horse, dog and trotting races is not taxable. A person who bets as a business is a different case; the page’s standing position is that this is general information, not tax advice, and the reader is encouraged to consult Inland Revenue or an accountant for the specific position. The page does not state that winnings are tax-free as a blanket position, because a professional punter is a different case from a recreational punter, and the line between them is set by Inland Revenue rather than by the page.

What a reader pays for, summarised

The cost of betting in New Zealand sits on three layers, and each is worth naming separately:

A reader who is aware of the three layers, and who reads the terms on the third layer before claiming an offer, is paying what the bet costs. A reader who is aware only of the first layer is paying the margin and is surprised by the cost of the offer on top of it.

The history of spread betting, briefly

Spread betting was invented by Charles K. McNeil, a Connecticut mathematics teacher who became a Chicago bookmaker in the 1940s. The original use was on American football, where the bookmaker gave a team a handicap to balance the action on either side, and the price sat at -110 / 1.91 decimal with a push on a result exactly on the spread. The product migrated to the UK in the 1970s and 1980s as a financial-spread product (indices, shares, forex) and as a sports-spread product (cricket runs, football goals, time-of-first-goal markets), and the financial version is what most readers mean by “spread betting” in a non-American context. The North American point spread stayed as a fixed-odds handicap with the -110 price and the push rule, which is the product most New Zealand readers meet on an offshore sportsbook today.

The takeaway from the history is that the spread-bet product has been around for the better part of a century, and the New Zealand market’s lack of a lawful spread-betting provider is not because the product is new. The market’s shape is set by section 74AAA, and section 74AAA is a function of the Entain partnership and the racing codes’ commercial settlement, not a function of the product’s age.

What a reader leaves this page with

A reader who came looking for spread betting in New Zealand leaves with four things:

The page is not a sign-up sheet. There is no spread-betting provider to sign up with in New Zealand, and there is no way to write this page that pretends there is. The choice the page records is the one the law has already made.

Frequently asked questions

How does spread betting work in football?

A spread-betting platform quotes a range on a football stat — total goals, total corners, time of the first goal — and the punter decides whether the outcome will be higher or lower than the quoted range. The punter buys (above the top) or sells (below the bottom) and chooses a stake per unit. Profit or loss is the stake multiplied by how far the actual result is from the chosen bet level, and a result landing exactly on the spread voids the bet. The cost is the size of the stake per unit times the spread width on a worst-case outcome, not a stake in the fixed-odds sense.

How do you bet against the spread?

A bet against the spread is a back bet on the underdog on a North American point-spread line. A -6.5 spread on the favourite means the favourite must win by seven or more for a back bet on it to win; a back bet on the underdog wins if the underdog loses by six or fewer (or wins outright). The standard price is -110 / 1.91 decimal, with a push on a result exactly on the spread. A bet against the spread is a fixed-odds bet with a handicap attached, and the maximum loss is the stake.

How do you bet against the spread in football?

A bet against the spread in American football is the same shape as a bet against the spread in any North American code: a back bet on the underdog with the spread as a handicap, a -110 / 1.91 decimal price, and a push on a result exactly on the spread. The puntor who wants to back the favourite must lay the points; the punter who wants to back the underdog gets the points. The same rule applies in college football and in the Super Bowl, where the headline spread is the closing-line benchmark of the week.

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 under section 74AAA of the Racing Industry Act 2020, in force since 28 June 2025. There is no licence register for bookmakers because there is only one lawful provider, and the Department of Internal Affairs told unlicensed providers to withdraw with immediate effect. TAB and Betcha are the two online brands of TAB NZ itself, run by Entain under a 25-year agreement signed in 2023.

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

For a single fixed-odds bet the return is the stake multiplied by the decimal odds. A $10 stake at $2.10 decimal returns $21 ($10 × 10/10 + $11 profit), and a losing bet returns nothing. For a multi bet the odds of each leg multiply into one combined price, and the return is the stake multiplied by the combined price. For a UK-style spread bet the return is the stake per unit times the number of units the result is from the chosen bet level, and the loss can exceed the stake by a multiple set by the spread width.

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

The bookmaker’s margin is the difference between 100 percent and the payout percentage of the market. On a balanced $1.90/$1.90 line, the implied probabilities are 52.63 percent each, summing to 105.26 percent; the payout share to bettors is 95.0 percent, which means the margin is 5.0 percent. The 5.26 percent figure is the overround, which measures the excess above 100 percent. The margin represents the house edge on every price. A tighter line ($1.91/$1.91) results in a margin of 4.71 percent; a wider line ($1.80/$1.80) creates a margin of 11.11 percent. The margin is the cost of betting itself, and it sits inside every price.

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