A company seeking New Zealand licences for two online casino brands had a representative email Newsroom seeking a sponsored content partnership arrangement, according to Newsroom reporting by senior business reporter Andrew Bevin. The pitch arrived months before any licensed operator can legally trade.
B2B News says the pitch is not illegal. It follows the announcement this month of 11 successful bidders for the 15 available licences. According to the Problem Gambling Foundation, the final auction price reached $15 million per licence.
Content bans leave volume open
Cabinet decided to ban jackpot advertising, affiliate marketing, influencer endorsements and imagery of coins or banknotes, as Newsroom reported in January. Under the online casino rules, ads must carry harm minimisation messaging and cannot run near programming likely to attract children. The Cabinet decisions were silent on advertising frequency and volume across all 15 licences. In stakeholder feedback in the policy process, health agencies warned that counter-messaging would be “highly constrained” without a volume cap.
Problem Gambling Foundation CEO Melissa Thompson warned that “high volume advertising across 15 licences will inevitably increase exposure” for younger and vulnerable audiences. In 2025, the Department of Internal Affairs estimated the existing offshore market at $1.36 billion, with spend growing 10.5% year-on-year to September 2025 across roughly 360,000 customers. The same report found the top 15 merchants already held 82.5% of the market.
Brands may fight for market share after legalisation
Entain’s Andrew Hannan says “the risk is 15 brands fighting tooth and nail” for a newly legal market, which “could lead to advertising restrictions down the road.” In 2025, Martin Cheer, then-managing director of Pub Charity, told a select committee New Zealanders should brace for “a tsunami of promotion”, including push alerts and “$100 free credit” offers. Entain’s TAB rebrand and marketing push in 2025 drew public anger and the company scaled back.
The Problem Gambling Foundation’s Andree Froude says offshore operators “have been treating our law as optional for quite some time”, pointing to social media inducements, wall tagging and influencer promotion. She wants DIA properly resourced and non-compliance history weighed in licensing decisions. In 2025, The Spinoff reported Māori make up 17% of the population but 30% of problem gamblers, and that 27 influencers were on a DIA watch-list for promoting offshore casinos. Licensing is due to wrap up in early 2027.