Gray Market

★★★★★★★★★★

4.2(39 ratings)

Roobet New Zealand: Not Excluded, Not Uncontested

Roobet New Zealand is a different case than Roobet in the US, UK, or Australia — all three of those are named Excluded Territories in Roobet's own Terms of Service, and New Zealand isn't. That open door, though, is standing in a hallway that just got two new locks fitted: a 2025 law that already makes Roobet's sportsbook illegal for the operator to run here, and a 2026 law that puts the same deadline on its casino games. This page covers what's actually true right now, and what stops being true soon.

Legal status in New Zealand

New Zealand has no law making it a crime for a resident to play at an offshore casino — the Gambling Act 2003 bans advertising offshore gambling into the country (section 16), not the act of betting there, and Roobet doesn't appear on its own list of excluded jurisdictions the way the US, UK, and Australia do. That's the gray zone. It's narrowing on two fronts. Roobet runs a sportsbook alongside its casino, and the Racing Industry Amendment Act 2025, in force since 28 June 2025, made TAB NZ the sole legal domestic provider of online sports and racing betting and barred offshore bookmakers from accepting Kiwi bets — with the individual bettor shielded from prosecution and the liability placed on the operator. Separately, the Online Casino Gambling Act 2026 (in force 1 May 2026) is licensing a domestic casino market from 1 December 2026, after which any operator without one of the roughly 15 licences must stop offering online casino games to New Zealanders. Roobet holds only a Curaçao licence and has shown no public sign of applying.

State gambling authority: The Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) administers the Gambling Act 2003 and is running the new Online Casino Gambling Act 2026 licensing process. TAB NZ — operated day-to-day by Entain NZ under a 25-year partnership signed in 2023 — is the sole legal domestic channel for online sports and racing betting under the Racing Industry Act 2020 as amended in 2025.

Roobet New Zealand doesn't start where most of this site's Roobet country pages start. The US, UK, and Australia pages all open the same way: Roobet names the country an Excluded Territory and the signup form refuses it before any local law matters. New Zealand isn't on that list. What it does have, as of 2026, is two new laws aimed at exactly the kind of business Roobet runs — one already in force, one with a deadline six months out.

Roobet Doesn't Block New Zealand — Not Yet, Anyway

Roobet is operated by Raw Entertainment B.V. under a Curaçao Gaming Authority licence, OGL/2024/687/0427. Its Terms of Service list Excluded Territories by name — the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia sit on that list, along with places like Belgium, the Netherlands, and Ontario. New Zealand does not appear on it. That puts New Zealand in the same open-by-default category as most of the roughly 155 countries Roobet serves, rather than the short list it's decided to refuse outright.

The one-line version: Roobet hasn't excluded New Zealand the way it excludes the US, UK, and Australia — but New Zealand law is closing in on both halves of Roobet's product on two separate timelines.

The 2003 Baseline: Legal to Play, Illegal to Advertise

Start with what hasn't changed. The Gambling Act 2003 has never made it a crime for a New Zealand resident to play casino games at an offshore site — there's no clause criminalising the bettor. What it bans, under section 16, is advertising offshore gambling into New Zealand. That legal-to-play, illegal-to-promote split is the two-decade-old gray zone every offshore casino operating here, Roobet included, has quietly relied on.

June 2025: Roobet's Sportsbook Became the Operator's Problem

Roobet isn't only a casino — it runs a full sportsbook alongside Crash and its slot library. That matters because sports and racing betting got carved out of the old gray zone first. The Racing Industry Amendment Act 2025 took effect on 28 June 2025, extending TAB NZ's existing monopoly to cover all online sports and racing betting and barring offshore bookmakers from accepting bets placed from inside New Zealand. TAB NZ, run day-to-day by Entain NZ under a 25-year deal struck in 2023, is now the only legal domestic channel for that product. The Act deliberately shields the individual bettor from prosecution and puts the liability on the operator instead — which means Roobet's sportsbook, specifically, is already on the wrong side of New Zealand law, even while its casino games sit in the older gray zone.

December 2026: The Casino Half Faces the Same Deadline

The gap is closing on the casino side too. The Online Casino Gambling Act 2026 came into force on 1 May 2026 and sets up a licensed market of up to roughly 15 online casino operators, administered by the DIA. Expressions of interest opened mid-2026, with licences issued from 1 December 2026 — after which any operator without one must stop offering online casino games to New Zealanders. Nothing in the public record suggests Roobet has applied, and a Curaçao licence carries no standing in that process regardless. If that date passes without a licence, the same gray zone that currently covers Roobet's casino games closes the way the sportsbook one already did in June 2025.

Is Roobet Legit? Is It Safe?

Worth separating from the legal question, because they don't move together. Legit, by track record: Roobet has run since 2019, claims more than ten billion bets processed, and holds a current Curaçao licence with a payout history that hasn't produced an exit-scam pattern. Safe is where New Zealand comes up short compared to what's arriving: no DIA licence means no local audit and no ombudsman for a disputed withdrawal, a gap the incoming 2026 casino licensees are specifically built to close.

What New Zealand Players Should Actually Do

For sports and racing: TAB NZ is now the only legal online channel — not a recommendation so much as the only option that isn't already operating outside the 2025 law.
For casino games, right now: Roobet's position is gray, not blocked and not licensed — a real but temporary-looking window.
After 1 December 2026: watch whether Roobet, or any Curaçao-licensed operator like it, shows up on the DIA's licensed list. If it doesn't, the gray zone this page describes ends on that date.

None of this is a recommendation to play. Gambling is entertainment with a house edge, never a way to make money, and 21+ age and responsible-play limits apply in New Zealand regardless of which side of these two laws an operator currently sits on.

Roobet New Zealand — Frequently Asked Questions

Is Roobet legal in New Zealand?

Playing casino games at an offshore site has never been a crime for a New Zealand resident — the Gambling Act 2003 only bans advertising offshore gambling into the country, under section 16, not the act of betting there. Roobet also doesn't name New Zealand an Excluded Territory the way it does the US, UK, and Australia, so the casino side sits in a genuine gray zone rather than a block. The sportsbook side is different: since 28 June 2025, offshore bookmakers have been barred from accepting bets from people in New Zealand, and Roobet runs one.

Is Roobet legit in New Zealand?

As a company, yes by the usual measures — operating since 2019, a current Curaçao Gaming Authority licence under Raw Entertainment B.V. (OGL/2024/687/0427), and more than ten billion bets processed by its own count with no exit-scam pattern in its history. None of that comes with a New Zealand branch of recourse, though — it's a real, functioning casino, just not one the DIA has ever vetted.

Is Roobet safe for players in New Zealand?

Operationally, the same as anywhere else Roobet serves — SSL, two-factor login, provably-fair math on its Originals, and a payout record that hasn't produced the kind of complaint pattern that flags a scam. The safety gap is regulatory: no New Zealand authority licenses, audits, or backstops Roobet, so a frozen withdrawal or locked account has no DIA ombudsman to escalate to, unlike the licensed operators due to appear under the 2026 casino regime.

Does the Racing Industry Amendment Act 2025 affect Roobet's sportsbook in New Zealand?

Yes, directly. Roobet operates a full sportsbook alongside its casino, and the Act, in force since 28 June 2025, extended TAB NZ's monopoly to cover all online sports and racing betting, banning offshore operators — Roobet included — from accepting bets placed from inside New Zealand. The bettor isn't the one penalised under the new rule; the offshore operator is. That makes Roobet's sportsbook the half of its product already on the wrong side of New Zealand law, even though its casino games technically aren't yet.

Will Roobet need a licence under the Online Casino Gambling Act 2026?

If it wants to keep offering casino games to New Zealanders past 1 December 2026, yes. The Act, in force since 1 May 2026, creates a market of up to roughly 15 online casino licences administered by the DIA, with expressions of interest opened mid-2026 and licences issued from 1 December 2026 — after which any unlicensed operator must stop serving New Zealand players. Nothing in the public record suggests Roobet has applied, and its Curaçao paperwork carries no weight in that process.

Is Roobet blocked in New Zealand the way it blocks Australia or the UK?

No — that's the distinction this page exists to make. Roobet's Terms of Service name the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia as Excluded Territories, and its signup form refuses those addresses outright. New Zealand isn't on that list, so the casino side currently works from a Kiwi address. That's a narrower, and more temporary-looking, position than an outright exclusion — the December 2026 licensing deadline is the date to watch.

Before You Play

How SWRNN Reviews Sportsbooks & Casinos Responsible Gambling Resources About SWRNN