12 August 2026

Kia ora,  

This is a final update regarding the current expressions of interest (EOI) stage of the online gambling licensing process under the Online Gambling Act 2026.

Upcoming EOI closure

Organisations wishing to be considered for an online gambling operator licence in New Zealand must submit their EOI before closing date and time.

EOI submissions close at 11.59pm NZST on Friday, 14 August 2026.

Information available on GETS

All information relating to the EOI process, including documentation, updates, and responses to questions, is available on the Government Electronic Tenders Service (GETS) portal.

Participants should continue to refer to GETS as the authoritative source of information for this process. Before submitting an EOI, we encourage all interested parties to review the final Q&A published on GETS alongside the available documentation.

Questions and answers

The opportunity to submit questions has now closed.

This communication includes the final Q&A update for the EOI process, with only those questions and answers that are relevant to all registered parties included below.

Q: Regarding regulation 20, would you please define deposit “method”? If a customer registers a card, then within 24 hours they would not be able to switch to bank deposit, being an entirely new method. However, noting that cards are a method of depositing, would the current drafting permit changing from card ‘1’ to card ‘2’ for deposits without waiting for the 24 hours to elapse?

A: Evidence suggests that customers who use multiple deposit methods are more likely to report harm. For the purposes of Regulation 20, different cards should be treated as different deposit methods. Any change to a different card would therefore be subject to the required 24-hour waiting period before it takes effect. Information on how this regulation will be met is not required as part of the EOI and will not be considered as part of the EOI assessment should it be provided.

Q: When it comes to payment systems such as Apple Pay, we are unable to tell which card is going to be used until the transaction has been completed, and users are able to change which card is attached to their Apple Pay independent of the online casino platform. Would Apple Pay be treated as a single method (for purposes of reg 20) regardless of how often/frequently cards used by the customer for Apple Pay may change?

A: Apple Pay is likely to be considered a single deposit method for the purposes of Regulation 20. Operators will need to consider how they are able to comply with Regulation 18 when deciding whether to accept Apple Pay or other similar deposit methods.  Information on how this regulation will be met is not required as part of the EOI and will not be considered as part of the EOI assessment should it be provided.

All previously published questions will remain available on our website: Online Gambling FAQs - dia.govt.nz

Next steps

Following the closure of the EOI stage, submissions will be assessed and submitters will be advised of the outcome and next steps in due course.

Thank you for your interest in New Zealand's new online gambling regulatory system.

Ngā mihi nui,
Trina Lowry
Programme Director - Online Gambling Implementation