New Zealand clears 11 operators for the second stage of online casino licensing

New Zealand has moved 11 gambling operators into the second stage of its new online casino licensing regime, opening the door to applications for one of 15 available licences. For PSPs and acquiring teams, the useful bit is simple: the market is now moving from policy announcement to documentation, business-plan review, and a hard cutoff for anyone not in the process.

1. Among the approved operators are Entain, SkyCity, Stake and Betway, alongside Rock Swift Group Ltd, Christchurch Online NZ Ltd, One Casino Ltd, Rush Entertainment Ltd, Skill On Net Ltd, SkyCity NZ Online NO1 Ltd, SkyCity NZ Online NO2 Ltd and TAB New Zealand.
2. Betway (Baytree Interactive Ltd) received the most rights to apply, with three. Entain (Playvia Gaming Ltd) and Rock Swift Group Ltd each received two rights to apply.
3. New Zealand has set the price of an individual licence at NZ $15m (£6.4m). The operators cleared for this stage still need to submit the required documentation to the New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) for a full business assessment before any licence decision is made.
4. The DIA will review domestic business plans, marketing strategies, consumer protection mechanisms, and any other information it requests. In other words, this is not a rubber stamp; it is the part where the regulator checks whether the operation can actually run under the new regime.
5. The transition period ends on 1 December 2026. By that date, brands that have not applied for a licence must stop offering online gambling to New Zealand citizens. Operators with an application pending may continue until a decision is made, but only under a temporary advertising restriction.

New Zealand introduced the new online gambling regime on 3 July 2026, and Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden framed it as a move to close the gambling tax loophole and bring licensed online casino operators into the tax net like any other business operating in New Zealand.