About Kawhia: Our NZ Gambling Review Team & Methodology

Kawhia is an independent New Zealand gambling guide. We help Kiwi players find safe, fair and rewarding online casinos, sportsbooks and crypto casinos — with honest reviews, real NZD testing, and clear information about NZ law and responsible gambling.

Our mission

There's a lot of noise in the online gambling space. Our job is to cut through it for New Zealand players: to test sites with real money, report withdrawal times honestly, and explain the things that matter locally — DIA licensing, the 2026 casino law, NZD payments, tax, and where to get help.

We're Kiwi-run and Kiwi-focused. We use New Zealand English, NZD figures, and NZ-specific help lines throughout.

How we rank sites

• Real-money testing — we deposit, play and withdraw in NZD, timing payouts in NZ business days.
• Weighted scoring — bonus value, withdrawal speed, games, banking and trust each carry a set weight.
• Licensing & safety — we check each operator's licence and responsible-gambling tools.
• Ongoing review — rankings are updated monthly, and every page shows a last-updated date.

Our full methodology is applied consistently across every review. We earn affiliate commissions when readers sign up through our links, but commissions never influence rankings — the scoring is published and identical for every operator.

Meet the team

Rawiri Te Kirikau

Lead Casino & Pokies Reviewer

Rawiri has spent 12 years reviewing online casinos and pokies for Kiwi players. He tests every site in NZD, tracks withdrawal times to the hour, and specialises in the Online Casino Gambling Act 2026 and DIA licensing.

Hine Waititi

Sports Betting Editor

Hine is a Wellington-based sports betting analyst covering rugby, NRL and football markets. She previously traded odds for an offshore book and writes our TAB-vs-offshore and World Cup coverage.

Sam Ngata

Crypto & Payments Specialist

Sam covers crypto casinos, provably-fair gaming and NZ payment rails. He verifies on-chain withdrawal speeds and explains no-KYC risk under the Privacy Act 2020 in plain language.

Read more on our authors page.

Contact us

Questions, corrections or partnership enquiries? Visit our contact page.