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Top poker sites for New Zealand players 2024
New Zealand is a small island country in Oceania with about five million inhabitants. Despite its remoteness from many countries, it enjoys a powerful economy and friendly laws for online poker players. To write this article, our team studied the market and laws and talked to local players to determine the best online poker sites to play in New Zealand.
Best poker sites to play in New Zealand
United States is acceptedBitcoins accepted
Below, we present what we consider to be the best online poker rooms to play in New Zealand. They have passed all the filters detailed in this article and have the characteristic quality seal of our affiliate service.
GGPoker
GGPoker is the world's largest and safest online poker room, home of the WSOP Online, and a New Zealander-friendly site. On this site, you will find suitable payment methods and 24/7 active tables in all formats (cash games, tournaments, Spin&Go, and exclusive games in formats such as AoF or Battle Royale).
BetOnline
BetOnline Poker is an American site that belongs to the Chico Poker network. Although it does not have thousands of tables like GGPoker, it is ideal for those who enjoy friendly games with casual players and the opportunity to mix the passion of sports betting with poker tables. There are tournaments, free tables up to $1k, and exotic formats like Omaha Hi/Lo.
An advantage for New Zealand poker players is that being 17-18 hours ahead, the traffic peaks usually coincide with playing hours in the island country.
PokerStars
For many years, PokerStars was the leading room in the online poker industry until it was overtaken by GGPoker. However, it is still a great player in the market and a reference for old-school players. PS offers 24/7 action in all known formats, and it is the home of world-famous tournament series like the SCOOP, which New Zealanders play a lot.
ACR Poker
ACR Poker is the flagship room of the Winning Poker network, a site that operates in the United States. This is its main strength because the action at the tables is mixed with fans from America, against whom Kiwis like to play high-stakes games. ACR (formerly Americas Cardroom) has NLH, PLO, and Hi/Lo tables and organizes one of the largest online poker tournaments: The Venom, which guarantees more than 10 million dollars.
How we determine the best poker sites for New Zealand
Making a list of online poker rooms to play in New Zealand is an arduous task since the residents of the oceanic country have a complete portfolio of global sites at their disposal. Our team has studied the market and local preferences to recommend the sites listed above and apply rigorous checks using the following criteria.
- Reliability: Safety comes first. The rooms must have a long history, operating licenses, community support and recognized brands, data encryption protocols, and valid RNG certificates.
- Payment methods: When playing poker over the Internet, rooms should build bridges with friendly payment methods that allow New Zealanders to quickly deposit and withdraw without delays.
- Traffic: Considering the time zone in New Zealand (GMT+12 or UTC+12), our team made sure to do different tests to ensure that the recommended rooms had tables available at the island country's peak time.
- Customer Service: Customer service is very important for the long-term satisfaction of the player, which is why we combine personalized attention with rooms that offer different means of contact, such as mail, chat, phone, etc.
- Software: The software is the "intermediary” through which players can play poker from different parts of the world, so we ensure that it is updated frequently, compatible with modern operating systems, is secure, and works properly.
Online poker in New Zealand
New Zealand can be called a paradise for online poker players. The country's laws do not prohibit local players from joining international rooms, so locals can play without restriction at their chosen sites.
The cherry on the cake is that the tax rules do not require the payment of taxes on poker winnings.
Total room availability + zero taxes = perfect solution for the modern grinder.
Legal background of online poker in New Zealand
The Gambling Act of 2003 clearly states that the country prohibits casinos or gambling sites from having offices or operating directly on its territory. However, it leaves the door open to play on international sites.
In other words, there are no New Zealand online poker sites because they are banned; players must join international sites, which is ideal because it allows them to join the well-known “.com” traffic.
Laws and regulations in New Zealand
Gambling has been regulated several times in New Zealand, starting in 1981 with a law that focused on boxing matches or similar events and ending in 2003 with the Gambling Act and the Racing Act, which regulate, among other things, online betting, including poker.
However, as a curious fact, the New Zealand Gambling Commission (the governing body of poker and gambling on the island) only monitors rooms physically established in the country, while they do not prohibit players from registering at offshore poker sites.
What is legal and what is illegal in New Zealand?
Curiously, it is illegal for New Zealanders to join local online poker rooms, which do not exist for the same reason. This “forces" them to play on international poker sites, which are the best in the market.
Poker sites like GGPoker or PokerStars, which have globally recognized operating licenses, are legal to operate in NZ. It is also legal to bet via the Internet and withdraw the winnings (if any) without paying taxes.
Deposit and withdrawal methods
In New Zealand, poker players will have no problems depositing or withdrawing their money from offshore online poker rooms. In the different rooms that we evaluate, we highlight the presence of the following payment processors:
- Cards (Visa, MasterCard).
- Bank transfers.
- Cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin, USDT, ETH, LTC, among others).
- Ewallets: Skrill, Neteller, Payz, LuxonPay.
Although poker sites offer their games in euros or US dollars, the conversion to the New Zealand dollar (NZD or Kiwi dollar, a stable currency with an approximate price of 1.6 NZD for every 1 USD) is transparent and takes place without additional commissions. We recommend using cryptocurrencies or electronic wallets so as not to overpay.
Poker taxes
The short answer is no.
Kiwi poker players should not pay taxes on their online poker profits. The tax rules allow players to report their winnings, but they are not required to pay any taxes. However, there is an exception for professional players, who, in theory, are obliged to pay taxes as poker is their profession and their only source of income.
It is worth noting that the authorities do not pursue players or their bank accounts, and only in rare cases the use of an accountant is necessary.
Live poker in New Zealand
Those who prefer to mix the excitement of poker with the physical feeling of the cards can visit several live poker rooms in New Zealand:
- Christchurch Casino (30 Victoria Street, Christchurch Central City, Christchurch 8013).
- Grand Casino (118 High Street, Dunedin 9016).
- Sky City Auckland (Victoria Street & Federal Street, Auckland CBD).
In these casinos, you can find poker tables that offer No-Limit Hold 'em and Omaha in cash games, MTT, and SnG tournaments. Some are also large hotel complexes with restaurants and other sites that complement the players' experience.
Regarding live events, New Zealand has hosted stops of the World Poker Tour (WPT) and the Asia Pacific Tour, in addition to series such as the Skycity Festival of Poker and the New Zealand Poker Championships.
Best New Zealand poker players
Although New Zealand has a relatively small population, its grinders have won more than $37 million, placing them in the TOP50 and surpassing countries like Mexico, Uruguay, or Estonia.
Born in Auckland, Simon Watt is the only New Zealander to win a WSOP bracelet, in the event #41 $1,500 No Limit Hold'em of the 2010 edition, which represented a prize of over $600k. In the heads-up final, Watt defeated the well-known Tom Dwan.
The ranking of the players with the most winnings on the live circuit is led by Sosia Jiand, followed by Lee Nelson, Thomas Ward, Hamish Crawshaw, and Jan Suchanek, all surpassing the million-dollar barrier in winnings.
In the virtual field, the nicknames "Thrumbo,” “unconquer3d”, and Matthew "donkibmbr" Carlson appear with large winnings in rooms such as PokerStars or GGPoker.
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