Betting in New Zealand as a British expat
Until 2025, New Zealand was a betting expat’s quiet paradise: everything reachable, nothing enforced. Then the law changed in a single stroke, and every bookmaker you have heard of packed up in the same month.
Updated August 2026
The short version. Since 28 June 2025, sports and racing betting in New Zealand is a legal monopoly of TAB NZ. It became illegal for anyone else, licensed anywhere, to take a bet from a person located in New Zealand, and bet365, Betfair, William Hill, Ladbrokes and the rest withdrew within weeks. The legal menu today is TAB and its app sibling Betcha. We recommend nothing else here, and New Zealand law itself forbids promoting overseas betting to NZ residents.
What happened in 2025
The Racing Industry Amendment Act handed TAB NZ, run in partnership with Entain on a 25-year deal, an online monopoly on sports and racing bets, with penalties for offshore operators up to NZ$5 million. The big brands complied by address checks rather than waiting to be fined: bet365 and Sportsbet stopped serving New Zealand customers, Betfair shut its NZ operation in July 2025, and William Hill closed its sportsbook to NZ residents that August. There is no ISP blocking; the operators themselves now turn you away once your address says New Zealand.
What happens to your UK accounts
They stop working for sport, full stop. Sky Bet never served New Zealand. bet365, William Hill and Ladbrokes all now refuse NZ-resident sports customers under the monopoly law. Withdraw before you emigrate; chasing a balance from Auckland through a support queue is nobody’s idea of a good first month.
Living with TAB
TAB NZ and Betcha are the whole legal sportsbook market. Coverage of British football is real: Premier League match odds are standard fare, and the platforms have sharpened noticeably since Entain took over operations. Odds margins are wider than a competitive market would give you, which is the price of monopoly, and there is no betting exchange. Deposits run on cards and the POLi bank-transfer rail, which survives in New Zealand under new ownership. Winnings are not taxed for recreational bettors.
What about offshore sites that still take Kiwis?
Some Curacao books ignore New Zealand law and still accept signups. The offence sits with the operator taking the bet, not the punter placing it, and no New Zealander has been prosecuted for betting offshore. But we do not recommend it, for three plain reasons: the operator serving you is knowingly breaking NZ law, which is a poor character reference for someone holding your money; the DIA actively pursues these sites, and a payout dispute with a blocked-in-future book leaves you nowhere; and New Zealand law makes advertising overseas gambling to NZ residents an offence, so an honest guide cannot point you anywhere specific anyway.
The 2027 opening
One real change is coming: the Online Casino Gambling Bill passed in April 2026 creates 15 auctioned licences for online casino games, with applications from December 2026 and launch expected mid-2027. It explicitly excludes sports betting, which stays with TAB. If you are choosing a destination and betting matters, weigh this against Australia next door, whose licensed sports market is enormous.
Not in New Zealand? See which bookmakers accept British expats where you actually live, vetted for licence and payout record.
See the vetted bookmakersThis page contains no paid placements and no affiliate links; every bookmaker named here is included on merit. Some links elsewhere on this site are affiliate links: how this site is funded. This guide is general information, not legal or tax advice; gambling law depends on your country of residence and changes. Updated August 2026.