Where can you get help with gambling in New Zealand, and which tools limit the harm? Free and confidential support is available from the Gambling Helpline on 0800 654 655 or by text on 8006, and from counselling services contracted by Health New Zealand. The tools are self-exclusion, limits and breaks, and blocks you set yourself. Each has a different owner and a different reach, and the online casino rules are only starting to take effect. The position below is as at 6 October 2026.

Get help now

  • Gambling Helpline: call 0800 654 655 or text 8006, or go to gamblinghelpline.co.nz. Free and confidential.
  • 1737: call or text to talk with a trained counsellor.
  • 111: call if you or someone else is in immediate danger.

What gambling harm means and how to recognise it

Safer Gambling Aotearoa, which is supported by Health New Zealand, defines gambling harm as “any kind of negative impact caused by gambling”. The harm can reach many areas of life, including the lives of people close to the person who gambles.

Its Know the signs page lists eight signs:

  • chasing losses
  • hiding or lying about gambling
  • spending more than you can afford
  • borrowing money to gamble
  • losing track of time
  • feeling guilty about gambling
  • gambling to escape stress or loneliness
  • losing interest in other parts of life

The page says that if any of these are familiar, it is time to take a closer look. The same site offers a two-minute, anonymous check called Test your gambling. It does not replace a conversation with a counsellor, and nothing in this guide diagnoses anyone.

On the numbers, the New Zealand Gambling Survey 2023/24 estimates that 8.3% of people aged 15 and over (95% confidence interval 7.4% to 9.3%) reported at least some gambling harm on its nine-question scale. That is about 359,000 people. The estimates are higher for Māori (14.4%, with an interval of 11.1% to 18.3%) and for Pacific peoples (16.1%, 11.2% to 22.1%). Gambling harm in New Zealand in numbers sets out the figures in full.

Free gambling help in New Zealand: the Gambling Helpline and counselling near you

The Gambling Helpline is run by Whakarongorau Aotearoa (New Zealand Telehealth Services). It is free and confidential: call 0800 654 655, text 8006, or use web chat on the Helpline’s website. The Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) lists four specialist services alongside it: the Māori Gambling Helpline, the Pasifika Gambling Helpline, the Debt Gambling Helpline and the Youth Gambling Helpline. If debt is the pressing worry, the main number is the place to start. The Gambling Helpline and other free support explains what a call involves.

For distress that goes beyond gambling, call or text 1737 to talk with a trained counsellor. Call 111 if you or someone else is in immediate danger.

Counselling near you is free too. Safer Gambling Aotearoa says the services it lists are contracted by Health New Zealand to provide free and confidential support, for people who gamble and for whānau and friends affected by their gambling. Its Services near you page finds one by location. Three providers publish their own details:

  • PGF Services offers free counselling, advice and support at 18 clinics nationwide, and you are welcome to bring whānau or a support person to your appointment.
  • Asian Family Services runs the Asian Helpline on 0800 862 342, free and confidential, in several languages, including Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean and Vietnamese, with branches in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.
  • Mapu Maia offers free, professional and confidential counselling and education for Pacific communities in Auckland, Hawke’s Bay, Wellington and Christchurch. Call 0800 21 21 22.

These details come from each provider’s own website. The Services near you page is the place to confirm which services Health New Zealand contracts.

The main tools and what each one covers

Each tool has a different owner, which is why none of them covers everything.

ToolRun byWorks today?Where it stops
Venue exclusionThe venue, under the Gambling Act 2003YesVenues only
Exclusion on one online siteThat siteDepends on the siteThat site only
National online exclusion registerTo be set by regulationsNoRegulations to be recommended by 1 December 2027
Limits and breaksLicensed online casinosWhen licensed sites operateNot on unlicensed sites
Bank and software blocksYou, with your bank or softwareYesCoverage differs by bank and card

Self-exclusion: venues today, online casinos one platform at a time

For venues, exclusion works today. DIA says a person can exclude themselves from one venue or several, and that a venue manager must issue a self-exclusion promptly if asked, if certain conditions are met. Safer Gambling Aotearoa says the venue operator must by law exclude you, and that both you and the operator can be fined if you enter the gambling area afterwards. The TAB lets customers take a break from an online account or self-exclude from online and in-person venues, and Lotto NZ offers a block on its online games and a way to exclude yourself from buying Lotto games in retail outlets.

When someone excludes themselves from several venues at once, DIA calls it a multi-venue exclusion (MVE). In most parts of the country a service helps with this, and a local gambling support service can say whether an MVE programme operates in your area and who coordinates it. The length of an exclusion and the size of a fine are not covered here. A support service or the venue can confirm both.

Exclusion is well established in venues and is only now arriving online.

Online, the position is different. Section 40 of the Online Casino Gambling Act 2026 says an operator must take all reasonable steps to exclude a person who asks to be excluded from its platform, who identifies themselves to the operator as a “problem gambler”, or whom the operator itself identifies as one. The same section covers a person who has recorded in the register set up by regulations that they want to be excluded from online casino gambling, and all of it applies in accordance with any procedures set out in regulations. Section 75(3) requires the responsible minister to recommend regulations for that register no later than 1 December 2027. As at 6 October 2026 no national register exists.

Until it does, exclusion is set site by site. DIA’s Minimum Standards, in force from 8 July 2026, require a platform to keep its own register of customers who have self-excluded and to check an account against it before activating the account and at login. Safer Gambling Aotearoa says most online casino accounts provide options to take timeouts or to self-exclude, but no official source checked says what a particular overseas site offers. What this means for your account: an exclusion set on one site does not carry over to any other, and no national register exists yet to carry it across. Self-exclusion from online casinos: what works today covers the detail.

Limits and breaks that licensed online casinos must offer

The Minimum Standards apply to licensed operators. DIA expects the licensing process to be complete in early 2027, and as at 6 October 2026 no licence has been issued, so the standards do not yet apply to any operator. The standards and the Act require licensed online casinos to provide:

  • time, deposit and spend limit functions that are easy to access at any time after a customer has opened an account (standard 5(1))
  • a wait of at least 24 hours before a request to increase or remove a previously set limit is allowed (standard 5(4))
  • breaks-in-play, time-outs and pop-up alerts that are easy to access (standard 6(1))
  • live support available to customers at all times (standard 8)
  • no credit offered if the operator knows or ought to know it is intended for gambling (section 42 of the Act)

What this means for your account: on a licensed site, a limit you set should be hard to lift in a hurry. The standards do not apply to a site that holds no New Zealand licence. Deposit limits, breaks and payment rules at licensed online casinos goes through them, and which online casinos are licensed in New Zealand will show who holds one once any are issued.

Blocks you can set yourself

Safer Gambling Aotearoa lists blocking software, Betblocker, Gamban and Gamblock, and payment blocks offered by banks, with ANZ, Westpac and Kiwibank named, on its Staying in control page. What a block covers differs by bank and card, so check with your bank before relying on one. No block stops every route to gambling.

The site’s tips are plain: “Set a time limit. When that time is up, do something else.” On its online gambling page it warns that gambling with a credit card is likely to create unwanted debt, and that automatic top-ups can mean you top up more often than you intended.

Where these protections stop

The Act protects the customers of licensed operators. DIA says that from 1 December 2026 only licensed operators will be able to provide online casino gambling to customers in New Zealand, and that players on an unlicensed platform do not have the same player protections. A complaint about a licensed casino can go to the casino or to DIA as the regulator. Safer Gambling Aotearoa adds that on overseas sites and apps the New Zealand laws protecting your rights may not apply, and lists delays, repeated identity checks, frozen accounts and sudden rule changes after a win as warning signs. DIA also says that a provider that has submitted a licence application will be granted an exemption to continue operating without advertising, and that a provider whose application is declined must stop.

The Helpline and the free services listed above work for everyone, wherever a person plays. Licence status changes the protections on an account and the route for a complaint. It does not change who can get help. For the rules, see what the Online Casino Gambling Act 2026 licenses and from when, and for checking a site, how to check a site and where to complain.

Age limits and young people

Section 38 of the Act requires an operator to take all reasonable steps to ensure that a person who takes part in online casino gambling on its platform is at least 18 years old. That duty sits with the operator. Age limits for venues, the TAB and Lotto are outside this guide, and how old you have to be to gamble online covers the online rule. The Youth Gambling Helpline is one of the Helpline’s four specialist services, and Safer Gambling Aotearoa has a page called Gambling and young people.

If someone close to you is gambling

The Helpline is also for people with concerns about someone else’s gambling, and its website asks directly whether you are worried about a whānau member. Safer Gambling Aotearoa says the contracted services support family and friends as well as the person who gambles, and PGF Services welcomes a support person at an appointment. The site also has a Sharing and talking page. Support for whānau and friends is covered in the Helpline article.

Questions people ask about gambling help

Is the Gambling Helpline free and confidential?

Yes. The service is free and confidential, and its website describes it as completely anonymous. You can call 0800 654 655, text 8006 or use web chat on the Helpline’s website. The same service is there for people worried about someone else’s gambling.

Can I get support if I am worried about someone else’s gambling?

Yes. The Helpline and the services listed by Safer Gambling Aotearoa support family and friends as well as the person who gambles. PGF Services says you are welcome to bring a support person to an appointment. Call 0800 654 655 to start.

Is there a national self-exclusion register for online casinos in New Zealand?

Not yet. The Online Casino Gambling Act 2026 provides for a register, and section 75(3) requires regulations for it to be recommended no later than 1 December 2027. Until then the Minimum Standards require each licensed platform to keep its own register, so an exclusion covers that platform only.

Can I exclude myself from several venues at once?

Yes. DIA calls this a multi-venue exclusion. In most parts of the country a service helps people set one up, and a local gambling support service can say whether a programme operates in your area. The Services near you page on Safer Gambling Aotearoa finds one by location.

Do online casinos have to offer deposit limits?

Licensed online casinos will have to. DIA’s Minimum Standards say limit-setting functions must be easy to access at any time after a customer opens an account. As at 6 October 2026 no licence has been issued and DIA expects the licensing process to be complete in early 2027, so the standards do not yet apply to any operator.

Does it matter for getting help whether the site I use is licensed in New Zealand?

No. Help from the Helpline and the free services listed by Safer Gambling Aotearoa is available whichever site a person uses. Licensing matters for other things: DIA says players on an unlicensed platform do not have the same player protections, and a complaint about a licensed casino can go to the casino or to DIA.

Where to get help today, wherever you play

Free and confidential gambling help in New Zealand is a call or text away: the Gambling Helpline on 0800 654 655, or text 8006. For distress that goes beyond gambling, call or text 1737, and call 111 if anyone is in immediate danger. This guide gives general information and is not medical, financial or legal advice. You can also read BonusOut’s safer gambling page.

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