New Zealand's Online Casino Auction Clears at NZ$15m a Licence as 11 Firms Win the Right to Apply

The Department of Internal Affairs has named the 11 entities that won New Zealand's 15 rights to apply for an online casino licence, at a single price of NZ$15 million each. SkyCity, Stake, TAB New Zealand and companies linked to Super Group and Entain are on the list, but none of them holds a licence yet.

• New Zealand's Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) says 11 entities won the right to apply for the 15 online casino licences on offer, after an auction that ran from 29 September to 12 October, drew 32 bidders and closed after 10 rounds
• Every winner pays the same final price, NZ$15 million (approximately $8.4 million) per licence, a figure that, multiplied across all 15 rights, comes to NZ$225 million, approximately $126 million, if every winner applies and pays
• Baytree Interactive, which iGaming Expert identifies as Super Group's, won three rights, the legal maximum, while Playvia Gaming (NZ), identified as Entain's, and Rock Swift Group won two each
• SkyCity told the NZX and ASX it won two rights through two companies, and Stake New Zealand and TAB New Zealand each won one, as did Christchurch Online NZ, One Casino, Rush Entertainment and Skill On Net
• The winners must now pass a full suitability assessment, operators without an application must leave the market on 1 December, and licences are expected from early 2027, as the DIA set out when the auction began on 29 September

Eleven Entities, 15 Rights and One Price

The DIA published the result on 13 October. "The auction attracted 32 bidders and concluded after 10 rounds, with the final auction price reaching $15 million (NZD) per licence," the department said. In the ascending clock format, the price rose in steps until demand matched the 15 lots.

The department listed the winners by legal name: Baytree Interactive Limited with three rights, Playvia Gaming (NZ) Limited and Rock Swift Group Limited with two each, and eight entities with one, including SkyCity NZ Online NO1 Limited and SkyCity NZ Online NO2 Limited. It does not name the groups behind them. iGaming Expert reported that Baytree Interactive belongs to Super Group, the Betway owner, and Playvia Gaming (NZ) to Entain.

The brands are not being published, because "operators may make changes throughout the application process", the DIA said; approved brands will appear on a public register once licensed. Each licence covers a single brand, runs for up to three years and can be renewed for a further five, and no one may have significant influence over more than three.

The reserve price, which the auction guidance said would never be revealed, remains undisclosed, though with all 15 rights allocated the final price evidently cleared it.

What the Winners Said

SkyCity Entertainment Group told the NZX and ASX on 13 October that it was a successful participant for the right to apply for two licences, "with a licence fee payable of NZ$15 million (excluding GST) per licence", NZ$30 million in all, approximately $16.8 million. It will "proceed with the application process ahead of next year's market opening", the release said. Chief executive Jason Walbridge said New Zealanders "trust the SkyCity brand", and that the company would combine that with its knowledge of the market. The win comes two weeks after SkyCity put its Adelaide casino up for sale and hired advisers to weigh offers for the whole group.

A Stake spokesperson said New Zealand was "a strong fit for Stake" and followed its expansion into Alberta, Argentina and Mexico this year, according to statements published by iGaming Expert and Gaming Intelligence. We found no statement on the result from Super Group, Entain or TAB New Zealand.

Super Group's chief financial officer, Alinda Van Wyk, told iGaming Business in August that the group would "probably apply for three licences", and it reached the cap. Entain, which runs TAB NZ's betting under a 25-year partnership, had said it was seeking three, according to iGaming Expert; its entity won two, and TAB New Zealand one in its own name.

From Auction to Licence

Winners apply by paying the auction price and filing a full application, with a business plan and strategies on advertising, consumer protection, harm prevention and compliance. The Secretary for Internal Affairs must not grant a licence unless the provider has shown it is suitable, and the DIA warns that a provider's compliance history may be taken into account. Applicants must also meet the minimum standards that ban adaptive games and demand secure random number generators.

From 1 December 2026, providers that have not applied must stop offering online casino gambling to New Zealanders. Applicants may keep operating, without advertising, until a decision, and must exit if declined. The DIA expects the regime to be fully in place in 2027.

NZ$15 Million Is a Real Price, and It Rewards Scale

The clearing price is the first hard valuation of New Zealand's capped market, and it is not a token fee. Spread across a licence of up to three years, it is about NZ$5 million a year per brand, approximately $2.8 million, before the 16% online gambling duty, the 3.5% regulatory levy, the problem gambling levy and GST. That favours groups that already earn from New Zealanders and could price the move onshore with real data: Super Group has run Betway there for years, according to iGaming Business, and Entain serves the betting market through TAB NZ. The auction has told the DIA what the market is worth to the people who know it best.

Winning the Auction Was the Easier Test

Every winner still faces a suitability assessment that can look back at conduct, and a NZ$15 million commitment does not buy a favourable answer. Several winners already serve New Zealanders, Super Group by its own account for many years, and the DIA has said a provider's compliance history may count. Five of the 11 entities, Christchurch Online NZ, One Casino, Rock Swift Group, Rush Entertainment and Skill On Net, have not been tied to a parent in the coverage we have seen, and every brand stays private until licensed. For now, nobody outside the DIA can say who will actually be trading in 2027.

The Bidders That Lost Are the Real Test of the Regime

The auction settles who may operate. Whether the regulated market captures the play depends on what happens to the operators that lost or never bid, which must leave by 1 December. With only 15 brands permitted, enforcement against the rest is what turns a NZ$225 million auction into a functioning licensed market rather than an expensive layer on top of the offshore one.

New Zealand's auction has produced a clear price and a short list of familiar names. The harder work, assessing them and shutting out everyone else, starts now.