The Gambling Helpline is 0800 654 655 — free, anonymous and answered 24 hours a day, with a free text line on 8006. To stop gambling in pokie venues, ask for Multi-Venue Exclusion: one application through the Salvation Army covers every venue you name, free, for up to two years. Counselling is free — every gambling harm service contracted by Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora is free and confidential, and family members can use it too.
| National helpline | 0800 654 655 — Gambling Helpline, 24/7, free, anonymous; free text 8006 |
|---|---|
| Venue self-exclusion | Multi-Venue Exclusion — free, pokie (Class 4) venues you nominate, up to 2 years |
| Online self-exclusion | No national register; self-exclude account by account with TAB, Lotto NZ and each site |
| Bank gambling blocks | ANZ, Westpac and Kiwibank offer gambling transaction blocks on cards |
| Free treatment | Yes — all gambling harm services contracted by Health New Zealand are free |
| Regulator | Department of Internal Affairs; Gambling Commission for licensing decisions |
| Legal gambling age | 20 to enter a casino; 18 for TAB betting and pub gaming machines |
Verified helplines
| Service | Phone / chat | Hours | Website |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gambling Helpline NZ | 0800 654 655Free text 8006; online chat | 24/7; free; anonymous | gamblinghelpline.co.nz |
Helplines and online chat
The Gambling Helpline answers on 0800 654 655, 24 hours a day, free and anonymous. You can text 8006 free, or use the chat on the same site. The same service also runs Māori, Pasifika, youth and debt gambling helplines.
The Problem Gambling Foundation takes calls on 0800 664 262 and texts on 5819, Monday to Friday, 8.30am to 5pm, and runs face-to-face counselling at 18 clinics around the country. Its counselling is free, and you are welcome to bring whānau or a support person to an appointment.
Numbers for other countries are in the helplines directory.
Self-exclusion
New Zealand's exclusion system is built around venues, not a national online register. Under the Gambling Act 2003 you can ask to be excluded from the gambling area of a venue (a self-exclusion order under section 310), and a venue can also exclude you on its own initiative. An exclusion order lasts up to two years.
The order cannot be shortened once it is issued. Changing your mind, or telling the venue the problem has passed, does not end it; the fixed term is deliberate. When it expires you can ask for a new one.
Multi-Venue Exclusion
Rather than visiting each pub and club separately, use Multi-Venue Exclusion, which has run since 2011 and is administered nationally by the Salvation Army. One process covers all the Class 4 (pokie) venues you nominate, it is free, and regional MVE coordinators will help you fill in the paperwork. Contact the national team on 09 639 1106 or nationalmveadmin@salvationarmy.org.nz. Once an exclusion is in place, venue staff are required to uphold it and will ask you to leave the gambling area.
Online
Multi-Venue Exclusion covers pokie venues only. Nothing about it touches online betting — that has to be arranged separately, site by site.
There is no national online self-exclusion register in New Zealand as of September 2026. You exclude yourself account by account: TAB lets you take a break or self-exclude from your online account, Lotto NZ lets you block yourself from its online games, and online casino sites offer their own timeouts and exclusions. How other countries handle this is set out in self-exclusion by country.
Blocking gambling payments and sites
ANZ, Westpac and Kiwibank all offer a gambling block on cards, which declines transactions coded as gambling. Health New Zealand's Safer Gambling Aotearoa service lists all three, alongside the blocking tools BetBlocker, Gamban and GamBlock for phones and computers.
Card blocks work on merchant category codes, so they are not airtight — bank transfers and some recurring payments can still go through. Using a card block and device blocking together closes more of the gap than either alone; the options are compared in blocking apps for iOS and Android. If debt has already built up, start with what to do about gambling debt.
Free treatment and counselling
Treatment is free. Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora contracts gambling harm services across the country, and states that all services it contracts provide free and confidential support. Anyone can access counselling, including people affected by someone else's gambling, and no referral is needed.
In practice that means the Gambling Helpline for phone and text support, and providers such as the Problem Gambling Foundation for face-to-face counselling at its 18 clinics. If you want to check where your own gambling sits before calling, the self-test takes a few minutes.
Support for family and friends
Family and whānau are covered by the same free services, in their own right — you do not need the person who gambles to take part, or to agree. The Gambling Helpline takes calls from people worried about someone else's gambling, and the Problem Gambling Foundation counsels family members separately.
A relative cannot place someone on a Multi-Venue Exclusion; the person has to sign it themselves. What a family member can do is contact a venue or an MVE coordinator to raise a concern, which can lead to a venue-initiated exclusion under sections 309 and 309A of the Gambling Act if the venue has reasonable grounds. For the conversation itself, see how to help someone with a gambling problem.
Gambling law and the regulator
Gambling is regulated by the Department of Internal Affairs under the Gambling Act 2003, with the Gambling Commission handling licensing decisions and the problem gambling levy. No new casino venue licences are being issued under the Act.
Online casino gambling is moving into a licensing regime. The Online Casino Gambling Act 2026 and the Online Casino Gambling Regulations 2026 set the rules for licensed operators, covering harm minimisation, consumer protection and advertising, with licences allocated through a competitive process and the system expected to be fully operating in 2027. Until then, the overseas sites New Zealanders use are outside New Zealand regulation: they are not bound by the Gambling Act's harm rules and are not connected to venue exclusion.
Age limits are 20 to enter and gamble in a casino, and 18 for the TAB, non-casino gaming machines and Instant Kiwi.
Frequently asked questions
How do I self-exclude from pokie venues in New Zealand?
Ask for Multi-Venue Exclusion. One application, administered nationally by the Salvation Army, covers every Class 4 venue you nominate. It is free, a coordinator or counsellor can help you complete it, and an exclusion order can run for up to two years.
Is there a national online self-exclusion register in New Zealand?
No. As of September 2026 there is no national register for online gambling. You have to self-exclude separately with TAB, Lotto NZ and each gambling site, and back that up with a bank card block and blocking software.
Is gambling treatment free in New Zealand?
Yes. Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora contracts gambling harm services and states that all of them provide free and confidential support. That includes counselling for people affected by someone else's gambling, with no referral required.
Is online casino gambling legal in New Zealand?
A licensing regime is being introduced under the Online Casino Gambling Act 2026, with licences allocated by a competitive process and the system expected to be fully operating in 2027. Until licensed operators launch, the overseas sites New Zealanders use are not regulated here.
Sources
- DIA — Exclusion Order (Problem Gamblers) Guidelines
- Multi-Venue Exclusion (Salvation Army)
- DIA — Online Casino Gambling
- DIA — Casinos (entry age 20)
- DIA — Gaming Review Decisions (age limits 18/20)
- Health New Zealand — Gambling harm programmes
- Safer Gambling Aotearoa — Staying in control (bank blocks, blocking tools)
- Problem Gambling Foundation of New Zealand
- Gambling Helpline New Zealand