Did you know that there’s one pokie machine available for every 347 people in New Zealand? It’s no wonder pokies are a national favourite when it comes to casino games, but that’s not all. Our expert, Adina Minculescu, overviewed the best games your NZ friends prefer to try.
However, this article will explore the most popular casino games Kiwis prefer to play online and in land-based casinos. From pokies and video poker to live blackjack and roulette, we’ll cover them all, plus additional insights to help you engage with them easily. You’ll also learn a few surprising facts about how much funds these games bring into the national country’s economy.
Understanding which games are most popular can give you an edge when choosing where and what to play. Knowing the NZ games will offer you an edge whether you’re a seasoned player or just getting started.
Continue this article if you want to go in-depth regarding the most popular NZ casino games.
Pokies
Slots, or “pokies,” are among the highest-grossing and most popular casino games worldwide. Therefore, finding out that both traditional and pokies online are immensely popular in land-based and online NZ casinos isn’t a surprise. However, let’s explore their numbers in more detail.
Using PGF Services to explore the Regional Pokie stats, we find that New Zealand hosts 14,743 pokies nationwide. In a fun exercise, we decided to divide the country’s total population, which is approximately 5.123 million, by the total number of slots in New Zealand.
Due to the great popularity of pokies, it should come as no surprise that free spins are among the most sought-after promotions, with bonuses featuring some of the most popular spinning titles like Starburst free spins and Mega Moolah free spins being highly popular in the gambling community.
Why did we do this? The purpose is to visualize quantities in a fresh light. The result shows one slot machine for every 347 people in New Zealand.
At the same time, we can see slots’ popularity through the number of money lost on pokies this year. According to Regional Pokie stats, the total number is $888,703,673, and it’s constantly growing. You can follow its progress with the source linked above.
All You Should Know About Pokies in Land-Based or Online Casinos
One of the most attractive pieces of information is how the NZ players came to name slots and pokies. In the past, when we started to develop this internet gambling database, we asked the same question: why are slots called pokies in NZ? To find your answer, you should check our comprehensive analysis, which will answer your question immediately. Moreover, if you’re inexperienced in pokies, the next step after you learn why slots are called pokies in NZ is to learn the basics of pokies. However, it’s almost impossible to make a guide here, so you should check Ioana Nutulescu’s guide on how to play pokies from A to Z.
Additionally, if you don’t know yet, one of the most essential technical aspects of playing pokies is the concept of return-to-player, which is measured via percentages. One of our technical slot testers, Irina Balcu, decided to dive into the idea to reveal its meaning. Check out our unique guide on the concept of RTP, read it, and learn how to choose the best pokies by RTP. Our recommendation is Blood Suckers by NetEnt with 97.99% RTP, a game which is usually restricted when bonuses are active due to the high RTP value.
Video Poker
Video Poker is an exciting casino gaming machine that may have accidentally renamed slots as “pokies.” At the beginning of the electronic casino games era, slot and video poker machines were placed close together. Thus, the names might have fused into “pokies” due to comfortable speech.
For those who don’t know, video poker is similar to online pokies in that both use RNG (Random Number Generator) and are programmed with simple software.
However, when it comes to gameplay, online video poker games are similar to table poker.
This game is so popular due to its easy-to-understand and easy-to-play interface. Inside the game’s mechanics, the RNG shuffles the card symbols until the player decides to start the game. Although Video Poker games online depend on luck, they also require skills. After all, the player can decide whether to keep or discard the cards to get other chances.
Keno
We’re all familiar with Lotto, the chance game in which players submit their participation as tickets with number selections that might propel their wallets into rich territories. Keno is just like that, but with four daily extractions, prizes are offered from $1 to $250,000.
For those who haven’t played this game, playing Keno begins when you circle numbers on a ticket. The range of numbers on the ticket from which you can choose starts at one and goes up to 80.
Of course, you can’t pick them all; a limit is usually put in place to avoid a situation in which winning is guaranteed every time. Concerning its popularity, Keno has attracted a vast number of people due to its routine extractions and easiness of access. This article from NewsHub New Zealand informs us that Lotto agrees it has too many stores across the country, most of them in poorer areas.
Live Roulette
Across the world, live gambling receives more and more positive reviews. It seems like live casinos are the next step in gambling and online gambling. The popularity of live games also stems from a suspicion of “rigged online games.” Although this suspicion is not valid, the equipment’s tangibility seems to attract players from all over the world increasingly.
This situation is still active in New Zealand, with Kiwi players agreeing that live Roulette makes a better experience than online Roulette.
Due to differences in gameplay, players of live Roulette should always gravitate toward French Roulette. If this game is still ambiguous, check our Roulette guide for beginners. Some advantages of this type of Roulette include the following:
- “La Partage,” which returns half of your even money bet;
- “En Prison” where your bet is stuck on zero, but you can receive the even money bet back if the ball lands on your pick.
Short Roulette Guide for Beginners
Assuming you already know how to play roulette in 2024, but you’re still a beginner, don’t worry because, at CasinoAlpha, our first mission is to make you a professional gambler. For this reason, we must first check the types of roulette games you will find in live casino sessions or in land-based:
- European Roulette: the most known type of roulette game with a single 0, with numbers from 1 to 36. Keep in mind that the house edge is typically 2.7%. Remember that European Roulette is CasinoAlpha’s favourite because it comes with one of the lowest house edges, which means it is an easy game to play if you’re a beginner. Learn everything about this type with our comprehensive analysis.
- French Roulette: This type of roulette is similar to European Roulette, but it includes the special rules of La Partage and En Prison, which can lower the house edge to 1.35%.
- American Roulette: Going deeper into the American Roulette is essential because it’s more complex. However, you should know that this table has a single zero and a double zero, along with the numbers from 1 to 36. Based on this piece of info, note that the house edge is 5.26%, which is more difficult to lower.
However, even if the American Roulette comes with a higher house edge, this doesn’t mean you can’t use mathematical strategies to lower it. Our specialists ensured you have the best Martingale roulette betting system analysed from A to Z, where you will learn how to reduce the house edge by improving your betting system.
If you want to become a top-tier roulette NZ player, it’s recommended that you compare American Roulette with European roulette. However, to save you some time, we decided to analyse each table and offer you a straightforward guide.
Live Blackjack
Blackjack is one of the most popular casino games in the world, second only to Poker. However, in New Zealand, the live version of Blackjack flows at the top of the ranking. Due to its significant internet presence, there have been big requests for online blackjack guides and tutorials in recent years.
When people talk about live Blackjack, they sometimes describe it as the “more exciting version” since the other online option is an AI-controlled Blackjack game. The second version doesn’t stir as much excitement due to its purely mechanical nature.
Live Blackjack, alongside live Roulette and other popular casino games in this category, are becoming increasingly popular due to their imitation of land-based contexts. For example, you can use Martingale on both Blackjack and Roulette because it’s a betting system based on mathematics. Check out how to use Martingale in Blackjack to become a pro blackjack player.
Additionally, at CasinoAlpha, we dived deep into blackjack and made sure to help you understand the blackjack odds, insurance, and surrender technique. We recommend checking every article and applying what you learned in the best live dealer NZ casinos.
Remember that if you’re into land-based casinos, the most popular casino nodes in New Zealand are Dunedin, Christchurch, Auckland, Hamilton, and Queenstown. Anyone living outside those zones might replace land-based gambling with live casino games, but if you can manage to visit those places, we assure you, with our guides, that you will overcome every difficult rule, like a higher house edge.
When did Casino Games Infiltrate New Zealand?
Gambling and primitive versions of casino games have always been part of people’s lives. It seems that gambling doesn’t have a fixed origin; instead, it evolved in multiple places as part of the human psyche’s need for playing or controlling pure chance.
Since we don’t know the exact moment when gambling crossed the oceans to reach New Zealand, we can base our commentary on recorded events. For example, in the 19th century, New Zealanders were already betting on card games or athletic competitions.
Furthermore, we know when the first casino in New Zealand opened its doors for curious players—it was 1994. This casino was named Christchurch Casino, and it is still functional to this day. Although in the beginning, it didn’t offer as many casino games, it now offers more than 500 slot machines and more than 30 table games.
How Much Revenue do Casino Games Bring to New Zealand?
As you may know, New Zealand’s gambling centers are one of the most popular in the world. The business of casinos is expanding each year in this country, so many tourists decide to secure a more extended stay to be able to experience famous venues like the SkyCity Auckland Casino.
But how much revenue do tourists and Kiwis bring to the gambling industry in New Zealand? According to research requested by SkyCity, 2020 saw a total of $332.6M in revenue only in the online casino sector.
According to the Department of Internal Affairs, the 2020-2021 fiscal year brought a total of NZ$2.62 billion in revenue for all gambling activities in New Zealand.
How Online Gambling Changed How We Wager
Since land-based casinos began gaining international acclaim, gambling revenue has grown even in tough times. However, Microgaming’s introduction of online casinos in 1994 brought about a true revolution in this sector.
From that moment on…
…the gambling companies started creating online counterparts for their land-based casinos, and other independent online casinos spawned at a high rate.
In 2021 the casino and online gambling sectors were worth $231 billion. These sectors account for over one million employees who provide services in over 5000 venues and online casinos.
