New Zealand has detailed strict advertising rules for its incoming regulated online casino market, targeting youth exposure, personalised marketing and potentially harmful messaging.

New Zealand’s Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) has published detailed advertising and marketing guidance for licensed online casino operators ahead of the planned launch of the country’s regulated iGaming market in 2027.

The guidance accompanies the Online Gambling Regulations 2026, released in June, and establishes strict requirements covering advertising to younger audiences, direct marketing, bonuses, customer data and the types of imagery and messages operators can use.

Among the more distinctive restrictions, gambling advertisements will not be permitted to reference luck, fate, rituals or superstition, while operators must avoid presenting gambling as necessary, desirable or capable of improving a person’s life.

Strict protections for younger audiences

Preventing gambling advertising from reaching minors is a central part of the framework.

Operators will be required to assess the likely demographics of an advertising audience and avoid placements where people under 18 could represent more than 20% of potential viewers.

Gambling advertising will therefore be restricted around schools, youth events and digital platforms with significant under-18 audiences.

Marketing formats considered particularly attractive to minors will also be prohibited. These include the use of cartoons, mascots and music associated with youth culture.

The rules go further when it comes to targeted advertising.

Operators cannot specifically target advertising towards people under the age of 25 unless they can demonstrate effective age-verification and exclusion systems capable of preventing under-18s from accessing the service.

These advertising requirements complement New Zealand’s wider online gambling regulations, under which customers must have their full name, date of birth and age verified before an account can be activated. The minimum gambling age will be 18.

Digital targeting comes under scrutiny

Online casino operators will also be responsible for controlling how advertising platforms distribute their campaigns.

Automated audience expansion features that could extend advertising beyond the operator’s intended demographic must be disabled where they could expose minors to gambling marketing.

Operators will be expected to use available controls including age targeting, geographic targeting and placement exclusions.

Advertising embedded within software or connected to live events will require additional safeguards, such as age gates or ticketing restrictions.

The regulations also establish restrictions around live broadcasts. Gambling advertising will not be permitted during a window running from 30 minutes before until 30 minutes after covered live events.

Luck and superstition banned from advertising

The rules place significant restrictions on the creative content of online casino marketing.

Advertisements must not encourage excessive, impulsive or continuous gambling.

Regulators will be able to assess the overall presentation of an advertisement, including its wording, imagery, audio, sequencing and calls to action, when determining whether it creates inappropriate urgency or pressure to gamble.

Claims included in gambling advertisements must also be verifiable and comply with New Zealand’s Fair Trading Act 1986.

Operators will additionally be prohibited from using imagery or video featuring physical gaming machines and poker chips.

Advertising slot game jackpots will also be prohibited, although the rules still permit the promotion of jackpots connected to table games.

References suggesting that gambling outcomes can be influenced by luck, fate, rituals or superstitious behaviour are specifically prohibited.

Personal endorsements are similarly restricted, preventing operators from using advertising that implies an individual personally recommends or endorses gambling.

Customer data cannot encourage riskier gambling

New Zealand is also placing restrictions on how operators can use customer data for personalised marketing.

Operators will not be allowed to use individual behavioural information to encourage customers towards gambling activity that could increase their level of risk.

For example, a customer cannot be targeted with promotions encouraging wagers above their normal betting levels.

Operators will similarly be prohibited from using behavioural data to promote slot games to customers whose activity indicates that they normally play table games.

The restrictions are intended to prevent personalised marketing systems from actively encouraging customers to increase their gambling intensity or move towards different gambling products based on behavioural profiles.

Direct marketing requires consent

Operators wanting to communicate directly with customers through email, text messages or direct messages will need clear and voluntary consent.

Customers must also be able to withdraw that permission, with operators required to respect unsubscribe requests immediately.

Additional rules will apply to bonuses, free spins and other promotional inducements.

Advertisements featuring such offers must prominently communicate all material terms and conditions rather than hiding important restrictions elsewhere.

Promotions linked specifically to the opening of new accounts will face further limitations. These inducements can only be advertised through platforms licensed to provide online casino services or through compliant direct communications.

Paid content must be clearly identified

The DIA is also targeting advertising formats that could be confused with independent editorial or social content.

Native advertising, paid editorial content and sponsored social media posts must contain explicit disclosures identifying the material as advertising.

This requirement is designed to ensure consumers can clearly distinguish commercial gambling promotions from organic recommendations or independent content.

The approach adds another layer of oversight to affiliate and influencer marketing, which has become an increasingly important customer acquisition channel across international online gambling markets.

New market preparing for 2027 launch

The advertising guidance forms part of New Zealand’s broader preparations to introduce a licensed and regulated online casino market.

Plans to regulate the sector were first announced in 2024, with the government currently accepting expressions of interest from companies seeking online casino licences ahead of the planned 2027 market launch.

The latest guidance provides prospective operators with a clearer picture of the marketing environment they will enter.

Rather than allowing licensed online casinos broad freedom to advertise once the market opens, New Zealand is building restrictions on youth exposure, personalisation, direct marketing and advertising content into the regulatory framework from the outset.

For operators seeking a licence, compliance will therefore extend beyond age verification and responsible gambling systems to how they acquire customers, use behavioural data and communicate their products across television, digital platforms, social media and direct marketing channels.