Our approach to finding the best sites has been honed over years and breaks down into these main areas:

Bonuses – This is what draws in new players, but we look deeper at offers to make sure that they truly have player-friendly terms. A $300 matched deposit is great, but not so much if it comes with x60 wagering requirements. We review bonuses so you know exactly what to expect before signing up.

Games – Our recommended best online casino sites sometimes specialise in one or two specific games and have a strong list of variations, while others have huge game libraries with tons of different titles. We pick out the best slots, roulette and blackjack casinos so if you have a preferred game you know where to go.

Mobile – Casino sites these days need to offer mobile experiences that match or better desktop, whether that’s through mobile-optimised web pages on your phone’s browser or a dedicated casino app to be downloaded.

Payment – A crucial part of the online casino experience, we analyse sites to make sure you’re playing at ones that offer a wide range of payment options and quick withdrawals and deposits.

Online casinos offer bonuses in all shapes and sizes. Here are the most popular:

Free Spins – These are common slots reward giving players free spins on their favourite games. Free spins sometimes come in welcome packages to newbies or as rewards for existing players.

Matched deposit – Where a casino will ‘match’ your deposit with bonus cash, that comes in a percentage ranging from 50% usually up to 200%. There will be a limit on how much you can claim off these, such as 100% up to £100. These bonuses sometimes come with free spins attached.

No deposit – These bonuses don’t require a deposit from players but often come with hefty wagering requirements. They simply require you to create an account to receive and are usually more modest than their upon-deposit counterparts.

Reload – Similar to matched deposit bonuses but designed to keep players returning as they are given when you reload your account with more money.

Cashback – This is when a casino gives you back a percentage of your real money wagers in the form of bonus funds. 

VIP rewards – VIP bonuses are for frequent or high roller players on loyalty schemes that can come as birthday rewards, free spins, premium personalised support and other bonuses and perks.

Best Online Casino Bonuses in NZ:

• Jackpot City Casino – $1,600 bonus
• Casimba – 200% up to $5,000
• Maneki Casino – 100% up to $500 + 99 spins
• Playzee – $1,500 + 150 free spins
• Casumo – 100% up to $1,200 + 20 free spins
• Nomini – $2,000 bonus
• Spin Samuri – 125% up to $300 welcome bonus
• Lucky Thrillz – 100% up to $200 + 100 spins
• Casiplay – $800 + 100 spins
• Dunder – $600 + 200 free spins

Slots are the most popular casino games and the aim is to win cash prizes by landing specific combinations of symbols when you spin the reels. Many slot games have themes tied to popular TV shows, movies, games or other figures. Online slots come in a wide variety of different forms, but usually fall into three main categories:

Classic slots – The closest thing to regular slot machines, these tend to be three-reel games that feature one to five paylines. 

Video slots – These can have a number of different reels and offer exciting bonus features like wilds, scatters, multipliers, free spins and bonus rounds.

Progressive jackpot slots – These games have jackpots that increase every time a player wagers and can rise well into the millions of dollars. They come with a high variance and don’t pay out as often because of the jackpot being so high. Microgaming’s Mega Moolah has the record for biggest payout. 

Developers of online slots have a blank canvas when it comes to the theme, style, and design of their games. But behind the curtain, these slots are always underpinned by two features that affect their payout structures: RTP and variance – let’s look at these in more detail. 

RTP

RTP stands for return to player – an aggregated percentage indicating roughly what players can expect to receive by way of payouts from one particular slot. The average RTP is around 96%, meaning that if a player were to wager $100 on a slot with this RTP, they’d receive $96 back on average. 

However, players should avoid taking these figures at face value. RTP percentages are calculated over millions of simulations, meaning that any individual gambling session can dramatically deviate from the advertised rate. After all, if players knew precisely what they stood to win every time they spun the reels, there wouldn’t be much point in playing. 

With RTP percentages, we can clearly see the inherent house edge of online casinos. The games hosted by these sites have been specifically designed to favour the casino – RTP rates can therefore be thought of as a literal embodiment of the maxim “the house always wins”. 

Variance

While RTP percentages give players an idea of what they can expect to win over the long term, a slot’s variance relates to payout structures in the immediate short term. If a slot has a high variance, this means it’s been designed to pay out bigger prizes at infrequent rates; low variance slots, by contrast, will do the reverse. Online slots can also be characterised as having medium variance, which sits somewhere between the two.

Roulette is a casino favourite that dates back to the late 1600s in France, with the word meaning “little wheel” in French. A game of probability, players choose to place a variety of bets on where the roulette ball will land on the spinning wheel – on either a single number, various groupings of numbers, the colours red or black, whether a number is odd or even, or grouped low (1-18) or high (19-36).

There are a number of roulette game variants:

European roulette – The wheel contains 37 pockets numbered from 0 to 36 and coloured green (only 0), red or black.

American roulette – Additional 00 pocket giving these wheels a total of 38 to land in and a higher house edge.

French roulette – Has a different layout and La Partage rule that gives players half their money back when they’ve placed even money bets and the ball stops on zero.

Mini roulette – This roulette game only has 13 pockets on the wheel in a simplified version of the game.

Multi-wheel roulette – Multi-wheel roulette allows players up to eight wheels at once.

Blackjack is a comparing card game that grew out Twenty-One, where players look to beat the dealer by getting as close to 21 from the value of their cards without going bust. Unlike slots and roulette, blackjack contains an element of strategy which means you can improve your odds of winning depending on the moves you make. Popular blackjack variations include:

• Blackjack surrender – This game has the surrender move which lets you forfeit your hand after being dealt the first two cards and only lose half your wager. 
• Blackjack switch – In blackjack switch, you’re dealt two hands rather than one.You then have the choice of switching the second cards to form the best possible hands.
• Double exposure blackjack – This online blackjack games sees both the dealer’s cards are dealt face up, making things a bit easier for you as the player. However, double exposure blackjack has slightly lower payouts to balance out this advantage.

Slots, roulette and blackjack games often dominate the games libraries of New Zealand gambling sites, but here are some of the other options worth trying out, too:

Poker – Poker is possibly the world’s most-played card game, but it remains a rather niche field at many online casinos. There are lots of different poker variants available, but they all involve the same central aim: achieve the best hand possible by making use of all the cards at your disposal. Texas Hold’em, Caribbean Stud, and Jacks or Better are perhaps the most popular options at casino sites. 

Baccarat – Baccarat is a similar game to blackjack, except this time players are looking to attain a hand as close to nine as possible, as opposed to 21. All cards from two to nine hold their face value, aces are worth one, and cards ten through to the king are all worth zero. 

Craps – Craps is one of two dice games you’re likely to find at the best online casinos in New Zealand. It’s played with two dice, with players betting on the outcome of their rolls. It’s thought that craps – or at least earlier versions of craps – may have its origins as far back as the Crusades. 

Sic bo – Sic bo is the other dice game frequently available at NZ online casinos. Its origins are also unknown, but the game was derived from China and is played with three dice instead of two. The betting calls are similar to craps, but inflated due to the extra die in play. 

The best online casinos in New Zealand offer their members a range of payment options at the cashier page. Here are some of the most popular and what they offer. 

Debit cards – For casino players looking for a familiar and widely-available payment method, you can’t really go wrong with debit cards. You’ll have no trouble finding an NZ casino site that accepts debit card payments, and all manner of casino bonuses will be eligible via this method. The only major downside is that debit card withdrawals are among the slowest of any payment method, with payout requests taking between 2-5 working days to appear in the player’s account. 

e-Wallets – With wide-ranging accessibility, excellent security, rapid deposits and fast withdrawals, e-wallets are a great all-round payment option for casino players. PayPal, Neteller and ecoPayz are some of the leading e-wallet brands, all of which offer similar benefits. Skrill is also available at NZ online casinos, but players taking up this option will need to convert funds into US dollars, which incurs fees. 

Prepaid cards – It’s important to keep on top of your spending when gambling online, and a great way of doing so is to make use of prepaid card payments. This option – best represented by Paysafecard – works on a voucher-based system, meaning that only preloaded funds can be deposited into a casino account. These vouchers can be purchased either physically in various retail outlets, or online. If you choose the latter, you’ll need to set up an account and may be able to request withdrawals via this method. Users who buy vouchers in person won’t be able to claim a withdrawal. 

Pay by phone bill – Like the idea of paying for a deposit with your mobile phone number? With pay by phone bill services like Boku, that’s exactly what happens – your mobile network provider will initially pick up the tab on your behalf, before charging it your monthly contract. This option is super-fast and convenient, but there are no opportunities to make a withdrawal and there are tight limits on deposit amounts. 

Cryptocurrencies – These days, online casinos around the world are opening themselves up to cryptocurrency payments. In this payment category, players are most likely to find Bitcoin on the payment method menus of a New Zealand casino, the benefits of which include high limits and rapid transactions. However, we strongly advise anyone interested in using cryptocurrency payments to conduct their own research first – while trading in crypto is perfectly legal, it’s not considered as economically secure as real money trading. 

Wire transfer – Some online casinos offer wire transfers as a means of payment, with players able to send money directly from their bank account to the casino’s. The immediacy of the wire transfer will depend on the system used, and there may also be fees incurred as a percentage of the amount being sent.

The best NZ online casinos will host games from the industry’s most revered software developers. Here are some of the biggest names to look out for. 

Microgaming – The modern online gambling industry was actually spawned by Microgaming. At least, that’s something the company makes a claim to, having created the world’s first online casino software back in 1994, and it’s hard to argue against it. Microgaming develops all manner of casino games, and some of its most popular titles include Immortal Romance, Thunderstruck, and the progressive jackpot slot, Mega Moolah.

NetEnt – Ranking alongside Microgaming’s contributions to the industry is NetEnt – a Swedish-based company famed for its beautifully designed slots and high-quality table games. Founded in 1996, NetEnt was recently acquired by Evolution Gaming, expanding its live dealer operations. Over the last decade or so, NetEnt has produced some of the world’s biggest ever slots, including Gonzo’s Quest, Starburst, and Blood Suckers.

Evolution Gaming – Evolution’s rise to prominence started in 2006 when the company spotted a gap in the online gambling market: a hybrid between the online and brick-and-mortar experience, where players can enjoy the customs of a real casino from the comfort of their own homes. Known as live dealer games, this introduction changed the online gambling scene forever, and any casino worth its salt now includes a range of Evolution Gaming titles, such as Lightning Roulette, Crazy Time, and Monopoly Live.

Yggdrasil – Inspired by the Norse cosmological concept of the same name, where all of existence centres around one sacred tree, Yggdrasil’s games often invoke notions of war, religion, and the realm of the gods. These themes are underpinned by the graphic design of their titles, often rendered in bold and vivid colours. Among Yggdrasil’s most memorable games are Valley of the Gods, Vikings Go Berserk, and Golden Fish Tank.

Playtech – Founded in 1999, Playtech is considered one of the industry’s ‘Big 3’ alongside Microgaming and NetEnt. Over the years, Playtech has signed a number of exclusive rights deals with big production companies, allowing the company to develop hit titles such as Justice League, The Dark Knight trilogy, and Suicide Squad.

Here at CasinoSelect.co.nz we are continually reviewing the market to bring you the latest on newly-launched online casinos and whether you should be playing them. Our reviews will outline the bonuses available at these new sites, whether any fresh games are on offer and how they compare to existing online casinos. This means you can stake your pick from New Zealand’s best new casinos as well as the more established casino sites.

Our recommended sites are all fully mobile-optimised, whether that means downloading a dedicated native app to your phone through the Google Play Store or Apple Store or simply by accessing a mobile casino site through your mobile’s web browser. This means you can play all your favourite games on your mobile and tablet and enjoy casino gaming anytime, anywhere.

We are dedicated to helping you find the best casino sites in NZ, so our reviews are as comprehensive as possible. We closely examine the bonuses, games, design, device support, cashier, security and reputation of sites and put them all in one place so that you can easily compare the best online casino sites.

We update our lists with the latest on newly-launched casinos as well as any changes to existing sites. Even before we review a site we make sure they have a valid license, player-friendly terms and conditions and solid customer support.