Sports Betting In NZ

Sports betting in New Zealand refers to the activity of predicting sports results and placing a wager on the outcome. Regulated by the Gambling Act of 2003, it oversees a variety of sports and betting types, both in physical agencies and online platforms.

This page provides a list of top sportsbooks in NZ, explains how we rate these sites, pros & cons, common betting bonuses & promotions, popular sports, odds and tips

How We Rate Sportsbook Sites

How we rate sportsbooks refers to the criteria and evaluation process we use to assess and rank online sports betting platforms. If the sportsbook site doesn’t meet our 8 criteria points, we don’t recommend it to our readers. These 8 criteria points are:

1. Security – A trustworthy gambling site needs to offer top security in the form of SSL 128-bit encryption to protect your data.
2. License – Betting sites need to have a recognised gambling licence suitable for New Zealand and any other market where they’re present. If they do, it means they follow all necessary regulations and are secure.
3. Sport Selection – Sports betting site needs to offer as many sports as possible. Sports betting is not only done by fans of a particular sport. It is performed by gambling statisticians that collect information on events and teams.
4. Bonuses – Bonus needs to be with few restrictions and generous. Sites need to offer promotions throughout the year so players have something to look forward to.
5. Payment options -We check withdrawal limits, the daily, weekly and monthly limits. Gambling sites allow you to deposit money with certain payment options, but these aren’t all available when withdrawing. There can be delays when requesting payouts. A good sportsbook site avoids all this.
6. Casino Games – players like to wager on sports events and then enjoy a good selection of casino games as roulette and pokies.
7. Player experience – top bookie offers the best experience for players. The best websites offer streaming of live events, a wide range of bet options, and apps for mobile phones.
8. Mobile accessibility – The app needs to perform better on both Android and iOS than the mobile browser version of sports betting sites.

Sports Betting Bonuses and Promotions

Sports betting bonuses and promotions are special offers provided by online sportsbooks to attract and engage bettors. There are different types of promotions, these are the 4 common ones:

No-deposit bonus

A no-deposit bonus is a promotional offer by sportsbooks where bettors receive rewards, like free bets or credits, without needing to make an initial deposit. You can’t withdraw the money right away, and there are restrictions when you win. For example, you need to make several bets with your own money before withdrawing any winning with the bonus money.

Deposit match bonus

A deposit match bonus in sports betting is an offer where the sportsbook matches a percentage of a player’s deposit with additional funds. If there’s a 100% deposit match bonus means that you deposit $10 and get $10 extra from the bookmaker. There is a lower and upper limit for this, so you need to check carefully which amounts are within the bonus terms.

Free bets

Free bets are promotional offers provided by sportsbooks where players receive a specified amount of betting credit. There will be restrictions on what kind of bet you can make and whether you can withdraw your win immediately or not.

Cashbacks

Cashbacks are promotional offers where players receive a portion of their wagered amount back, usually as a bonus or betting credit, if they incur losses over a certain period.If you bet $10 on a Premier League match the outcome is a loss for you. If you have a 20% cashback, it means the sportsbook will refund you $2 of that bet. There’s an extreme option of this, where you get “insurance” for certain bets. When that happens, the site refunds your losing bet or gives you an equivalent one for free.

Popular Sports in NZ

Popular sports in New Zealand are a wide range of sports competitions that attract significant betting interest. Below we have provided a short insight into the 7 most popular sports in New Zealand:

Soccer

Soccer or football betting involves placing wagers on various outcomes related to soccer matches. Bettors can predict scores, winning teams, individual player performances, and more, placing their bets before or during the game. It’s incredibly popular during important events – World Cup, and there is interest in the top leagues, especially the European ones. One of the top leagues is the UK’s Premier League, with teams – Leicester City and Manchester United.

Soccer, known as football outside of New Zealand and the United States, is a globally popular team sport.

Netball

Netball betting refers to the activity of placing wagers on the outcomes of netball games. Bettors can bet on various aspects like match winners, point spreads, and player performances.

Netball has been around since the 1890, it’s a team sport played by two teams of seven players, primarily played by women. The game’s objective is to score goals by shooting a ball through a raised net attached to a ring at each end of the court. This sport is favoured by statisticians because of its stricter rules

Golf

Golf betting involves placing wagers on various outcomes in a golf tournament or match. Bettors can bet on who will win a tournament, the scores of individual rounds, match-ups between specific golfers, and various other aspects of the competition. The competitions that attract the most interest are:

• The US Open,
• The PGA Championship,
• The Open Championship,
• The Masters.

There are a lot of bet types for golf, and the relaxed pace of the game allows for more strategizing when making your bet selections.
Golf is a precision sport where players use various clubs to hit a small ball into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible.

Basketball

Basketball betting involves placing wagers on various outcomes related to basketball games, such as point spreads, moneylines, and over/under totals. Basketball betting does not end at the NBA. New Zealand punters can keep an eye out for BBNZ games, too.

Basketball is a team sport where two teams, typically of five players each, compete to score points by shooting a ball through a hoop elevated 10 feet above the ground.

Rugby

Rugby betting involves placing wagers on various outcomes in rugby matches. Bettors can choose from a range of betting options such as match winners, point spreads, total points scored, and first try-scorer.

Rugby is the most popular sport for betting in New Zealand and it refers to a high-contact team sport known for its combination of strength, strategy, and speed.

Horse racing

Horse racing betting refers to wagering on the outcomes of horse races. It’s a popular form of gambling worldwide, where bettors place bets on horses they predict will win, place, or show in a race. This betting can occur at racetracks, through online betting platforms, or at off-track betting facilities. The preferred events for horse betting are the top international competitions:

• The Grand National in the UK,
• The Melbourne Cup in Australia,
• Kentucky Derby in the USA.

Horse Racing, a time-honored sport, involves the racing of thoroughbred horses over a set distance at racetracks.

Esports

Esports betting involves placing wagers on the outcomes of competitive video gaming or esports events. Bettors can bet on various aspects, such as match winners, tournament winners, or specific in-game events.

Players form a team and compete for international prestige (and money). Among the popular esports are sports titles:

• FIFA Soccer (EA),
• Counter-Strike,
• Starcraft II.

Esports refers to competitive video gaming at a professional level. They are organized, multiplayer video game competitions, often between professional players, individually or as teams.

Honourable mentions

Sports like tennis garner a lot of interest when large events like Wimbledon happen.

Cricket can gain a lot of attention during domestic competitions like Super Smash.

American sports leagues are popular. These include:

• Major League Baseball (MLB),
• The National Football League (NFL),
• National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).

Similar situation happens for hockey, as both local teams and the NHL as a whole are growing in popularity.

Betting Odds Explained

Betting odds are the probability of an outcome in sports betting, providing a basis for determining potential winnings. They indicate the possibility of an event to happen and how much the player can win if their bet is successful.

The odds system works the same whether you bet on soccer matches, rugby, or a horse race. Different contests or countries don’t change how it works, although how they show those odds can vary.

Below we have explained 3 most frequent odds types:

Fractional odds

Fractional odds are a traditional format for expressing betting odds; they show the potential profit relative to the stake, represented as fractions. The first number means how much you win if your bet is successful, and the second number is your stake.

10/1 means that you win $10 for each $1 you bet. At 7/4 odds, you win $7 for every $4 that you spend.

Decimal odds

Decimal odds are a format for expressing betting odds. They represent the total payout (including the original stake) for every bet. If you bet $10 on an event and you win, you’ll get $6 if the odds are 0.60 or $32.50 if the odds are 3.25.

American odds

American odds, known as moneyline odds, are a betting format primarily used in the United States. This system takes as a reference $100 as a bet size. Then, the odds vary according to the outcome. This means that favoured bets are shown in negative numbers.

If the odds are -200 that means that if you bet $200, you win $100. The less rewarding the bet, the more the outcome. If the bet is +200 bet means you’ll get $200 for each $100 you bet.

The bet size isn’t locked at $100,. You can make a bet of any size, and the prize will correspond to your bet size. If you bet $30 in this case and you win, you’ll get $60 (plus your original $30 back).

Sports Betting Tips

Sports betting tips are recommendations and advice aimed at bettors’ to improve their chances of winning their wagers. Below we provided five important tips that bettors need to know:

1. Understand the betting types

There are various bet types and they are difficult to understand when you first get into sports betting. Here are the 4 important ones:

Moneyline bets

Moneyline bets are a type of sports bet where you wager on which team or player will win a match or event outright. The bookmaker places odds that determine the favourite and the underdog. Team A as the favourite may have odds of 4/1 to win a game, whereas Team B, has higher odds of 8/1. The team with higher odds is always considered the underdog.

Prop bets

Prop bets, short for proposition bets, are wagers placed on specific occurrences or non-occurrences within a sports event that are not directly tied to the final outcome or score. For example, you can bet on a certain player scoring a goal, or whether there’s going to be a specific score achieved at a particular point during the game.

Accumulator bets

Accumulator bets are a type of sports wager that combine multiple individual bets into one larger bet. For the accumulator bet to win, all the individual selections within it must win.
If you bet on your favourite soccer team to win a match, a cricket batsman to get a set number of runs, and a horse to come third in a race.Then even if one of these bets doesn’t pan out, then the whole accumulator suffers; you don’t get anything.

Futures bets

Futures bets are wagers placed on events or outcomes that will be resolved at a later date. These bets typically involve long-term predictions. For example, you can bet on who will win a sports season or championship.

2. Collect Information

Collecting information involves gathering and analyzing data related to sports events, teams, and players. For example, you check the statistics of all participants in a match to better assess the outcome. Or one player has an injury that will hurt the odds, or another player performs better in certain weather or field types.

3. Adopt a betting strategy

Adopting a betting strategy refers to the practice of applying a systematic approach to placing bets. These strategies are not aimed at increasing your winnings but reducing your losses instead. There are negative progression systems, positive progression systems and flat betting.

Negative progression systems

Negative progression systems in sports betting are strategies where bettors increase the size of their bets after experiencing a loss. In Martingale system, you start a bet low, and then keep doubling it if you lose. Once you win, you reset back to your original small bet, then repeat as needed.

Positive progression systems

Positive progression systems in sports betting are strategies where bettors increase the size of their bets after a win, rather than after a loss. In the Paroli method, you keep your initial bet if you lose, but bet double the initial amount if you win.

4. Flat betting

Flat betting in sports betting is a strategy where a bettor always wagers the same amount of money on each bet, regardless of previous wins or losses. The important issue with all these is that they are ‘systems’. This means, they’re designed to help you manage your bankroll, not a fool-proof way to win.

5. Shop around for the best odds

Shopping around for the best odds refers to the practice of comparing odds offered by different bookmakers or betting sites for the same event. It doesn’t take much effort, because bookies allow you to check all details on their services without the need to register an account.

Sports Betting Facts

We have compiled 5 important facts about sports betting below:

1. Soccer is the most popular sport in the world, and this is true for bets. About 70% of sports betting happens in soccer matches.
2. Most punters have a win rate of less than 50%. What’s interesting is that people that make a living from sports betting have a rate of between 53% and 55%.
3. Horse betting is the second most popular option for gamblers around the world.
4. Counter-Strike: Global Operations is the top eSports to bet on. It accumulated 53% of all eSports bets in 2020.
5. Around 20% of people worldwide have placed at least one sports bet in their lives

Final Thoughts about Sportsbooks

If you are a regular gambler in the offline world you will find online sportsbooks to be convenient, offer a variety of services, and let you place your order without leaving home.

Some consider online sites a bit impersonal and miss the human component. While this is unavoidable on online sites, at least you can rest assured knowing that there are people behind the websites to help you in case any issues arise. It’s important to look for sportsbook sites with 24/7 chat support in English.

The sheer amount of bets, sports, and markets available at online sportsbooks make them an incredible choice for fans of sports and betting.