If you go online and search for the term, ‘online casinos in NZ’, you’ll be presented with hundreds of platforms. With so much choice and so little to tell one platform apart from another, it takes extensive research to pick the best ones from the rest. This is one of the reasons why casino reviews are so important since they provide you with a final verdict rather than requiring you to do the research yourself.
Being able to carry out casino analysis requires years of experience and an eye for detail. On this page, we’ll show you some of the work that goes into determining whether an online casino is one of the best, or simply the rest.
Recommended Casinos for Kiwi Players
Great entertainment platform
with amazing casino games
How we Rate the Casinos that we Review
To create our casino reviews, we look at a variety of factors and characteristics. Here are some of the most significant ones that help us form our casino opinions:
Security and Trust
With so many online platforms available to Kiwis, scams are a constant worry. To ensure that our recommended casinos can be trusted, we only choose operators that hold at least one operating license from a competent jurisdiction, such as the Malta Gaming Authority.
Payment Methods and Banking
To better serve customers in New Zealand, the best gambling sites provide a range of NZD and crypto payment methods. We would normally expect top operators to support payments with cards, eWallets, payment vouchers, and Bitcoin.
Payout times
In addition to providing a range of convenient payment methods, top sites must be able to process withdrawals within hours, rather than days. Timely payouts are an important way for top sites to build trust with players and provide them with their funds quicker.
Reputation
The overall reputation of a casino site is vital for it to continue operating. With so many web forums and online reviews available, one wrong move by an operator could spell disaster. This is why we also check player reviews in order to get direct feedback.
Software providers
To be able to offer a very good game library, online gambling sites must partner with multiple trusted software providers. In addition to the big brands, such as Evolution and Microgaming, it helps to offer smaller developers as well, including Wazdan or Betsoft.
Games Available
All our casino reviews give special attention to the range of games available. We’re not just looking at the number of titles, but also the variety of genres and software providers. This is why the best casino sites often offer a mix of pokies, table games, bingo, and keno.
Welcome Bonus Scheme
If you’re going to deposit your money into an online casino, you might as well get rewarded for it. This is the reason why we include casino comparisons in our reviews, to match different welcome bonuses and their terms together.
Customer Service
We celebrate sites that understand the value of their players and seek to offer them the best customer experience. This is why it is important that operators provide 24/7 live chat support, along with additional communication options, such as a toll-free number or email.
Mobile-Friendly
Playing pokies and other casino games on your phone is now easier than ever when you use our recommended online gambling websites. Whether through a downloadable app or mobile-optimized website, you can enjoy a responsive mobile experience every time.
Here’s Why You can Trust CasinoGuide
It’s fair to ask why you should trust CasinoGuide over other sites offering casino reviews. The following are some of the reasons which, in our humble opinion, help us stand out from similar sites.
Things to Look Out for When Signing Up to an NZ Casino
Before you register a new casino account in NZ, you should keep the following considerations in mind:
- License
You should only sign-up and play on licensed online casinos. Apart from being generally safer, these platforms are legally obliged to handle your complaints and resolve them in a professional manner.
There is currently no national gambling authority in New Zealand, so no casino operator can be based or licensed in the country. Residents can use offshore sites, but it is important that they are licensed by top jurisdictions, such as the MGA, Curacao eGaming, or the UK Gambling Commission.
- Welcome Bonus
The vast majority of casino sites will offer welcome bonuses to new players. However, you should be aware that scammers often use enticing promotions to dupe unsuspecting players to part with their money.
Our casino reviews include information about wagering requirements, payment limits, and other important information regarding welcome and ongoing bonuses. We understand when an offer is too good to be true and will put a notification if this is ever the case.
- Payments
One of the early-on considerations that you need to make when choosing your online casino is which payment method you will use. Our featured sites support NZD payments, but this is not the case for all casinos. If the site you choose doesn’t accept this currency, you might need to pay currency conversion fees.
It is also worth checking whether a platform lets you pay with cryptocurrency. By choosing Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, or any other supported coin or token, you could benefit from faster payments and higher limits. In some cases, you could also receive higher-value bonuses.
- Games
Many players assume that any online casino would offer online pokies, and in most cases, they are correct. However, your preferred type of pokie, such as one with a progressive jackpot or Megaways™, might not be available.
By reading our casino reviews, you can check what game varieties are available. We will also inform you about the virtual and live casino game options and whether a site includes speciality titles, such as bingo, keno, scratchcards, or BTC games.
Pay Attention to the Terms and Conditions
No one enjoys reading the fine print of any casino bonus, but this is where all the important details are listed. We always try and include some T&Cs in our casino reviews, but it’s impossible to list all of them, especially since operators are free to change them whenever they wish.
Safe and trustworthy operators, such as the ones featured on CasinoGuide, are honest and upfront about their rules. You can usually find the full list of bonus terms next to the main reward details, and you can find the terms of use on the bottom navigation menu.
When reading through the casino’s terms and conditions, keep an eye out for the following:
- Wagering requirement - This is a common term in bonuses and promotions. You would normally need to fulfil a wagering requirement before being allowed to withdraw any bonus cash.
- Minimum payment - A minimum deposit limit could apply to both a casino offer or general platform use. If you do not meet this minimum limit, your deposit or withdrawal might not be processed, or you may become ineligible for the bonus.
- Expiry periods - Most offers and promotions at online casinos are time-barred. You would need to avail of an offer, or fulfil certain requirements within the stipulated time or else risk losing the bonus or perk.
- Payment methods - Not all supported banking options can be used for promotions or to carry out both deposits and withdrawals. It is important that you check whether a particular method can be used for your intended purpose.
- Bonus abuse terms - There are conditions that, if broken, would automatically cancel your bonus and any resulting payouts. One of the most common examples is registering multiple accounts on the same platform to claim several offers.
If you’re ever in doubt regarding terms and conditions, you should get in touch with the casino’s customer care team. Once you have activated a bonus or have begun using the platform’s services, you are automatically agreeing to abide by the T&Cs.
Our Top Tips for Choosing the Best Casino
Here are some of our best tips for picking the online casino that best suits your preferences:
- Stay educated - The iGaming industry is constantly evolving, and you should keep up to date with the latest innovations and opportunities. You should read our new casino reviews and helpful guides, as well as carry out your own research on the best casino payment methods and games.
- Demo first - When you first join an online casino, you don’t need to deposit funds immediately. The best online platforms in NZ let you play the vast majority of their games for free in demo mode. You can also get in touch with customer care and test the casino’s other features to ensure that it delivers on its promises.
- Read rules - Go through the casino’s bonus and general terms and conditions to ensure that there are no issues with playing on this site. Players from NZ could, for example, be banned, or the casino might have an average payout time of five business days which you may not like.
- Wagering requirements - Whilst this falls under the category of bonus rules, it is a particularly important and tricky term. Check whether a wagering requirement is just for the bonus or combines the bonus and your deposit. You should also check the time limit on the offer, and this can sometimes be just a couple of days.
Bottom Line
The casino reviews provided by CasinoGuide are here to make your life easier. We understand that you are eager to play popular online pokies or live Blackjack, and have little interest to carry out extensive research and analysis.
By signing up to the casinos featured on our site, you can rest assured that you’re joining safe and reputable platforms that have extensive experience supporting players in New Zealand. You can always pay using NZD and, in many cases, can also opt to pay with crypto.
You should also check out our recommendations to learn about new and exciting player bonuses. These are available to both new and existing users, and, through our expert advice, you can learn how to make the most out of every deposit.
We are continually seeking ways to improve our casino reviews and update our information to reflect the latest operator changes. This will help us maintain our commitment to being unbiased and honest.