The most popular game for players at gaming establishments across New Zealand (NZ) are pokies. Auckland Casino which is the biggest casino in New Zealand has over 1,500 pokie machines and they get a lot of foot traffic daily as NZ casino patrons love to test their luck playing their favourite pokie machines.
While many NZ players know how to use pokie machines, many Kiwis need to learn how to use a pokie machine or play online pokies. Our team has put together an easy how to guide to help you have fun playing NZ pokies.
This guide can be used to play online pokies from the comfort of your home or also get you prepared to have fun playing pokie machines at any casino in New Zealand. Our aim in putting this guide together was to make our readers more familiar with how pokie machines work and give them the confidence to play their favourite pokies.
Selecting A Place To Play Pokies
If you are in New Zealand, you have the option of playing pokies at casinos, clubs, pubs and TABs across the country which are licensed to have pokie machines. If you want to play at a NZ brick-and-mortar casino, then you are limited to just six choices as there are only six casinos in New Zealand. You can play at the
- Grand Casino Dunedin
- SkyCity Hamilton
- SkyCity Queenstown
- Christchurch Casino
- SkyCity Auckland
- SkyCity Wharf Casino
If you are far from these land-based casinos, your next best option is to find a pub, club or TAB with pokie machines. If you are looking to place a few bets and have a little fun, then this might be an option for you. However, if you are looking to spend some quality time playing pokies and want a more relaxed environment, we suggest playing at an online casino.
There are many NZ online casinos that offer you access to thousands of online pokies but not all these casinos are safe and reliable. Our team of casino review experts have shortlisted the best online casinos for NZ players and we suggest you look at our list of NZ online casinos and pick one that is best for you.
We recommend you choose an online casino that has an attractive welcome bonus for pokie players. Choose a casino that gives out loads of free spins and has low wagering requirements as it will help you boost your odds of winning and withdrawing your pokie winnings easily.
Once you decide where you are going to play your favourite pokies, the next step is to understand what type of pokies you should consider playing.
Selecting What Pokies You Want To Play
When it comes to land-based pokie machines, the Problem Gambling Foundation (PGF) in New Zealand estimated that at the end of Dec 2021, there were over 14,700 pokie machines across the country and over 3,000 of these pokie machines were located across the 6 land-based casinos in New Zealand.
These pokie machines or gaming machines come with different themes, paylines, reels, mechanics, jackpots and bonus features. What is common with all of them is that they are controlled by a Random Number Generator (RNG) software.
When you go to any of the 6 land-based casinos, you have a lot more variety and options in pokie machine selection. Whereas when you play at a TAB or a club, your selection of pokie machines is limited. The difficult part of playing at a land-based casino or club is finding a good pokie machine, as you will have to physically walk the floor and then ensure that the pokie machine you want to play is not occupied by another player.
The best selection of pokie games in our opinion is available at online casinos as many of our featured NZ online casinos offer Kiwis access to thousands of multi-vendor pokies. You can use different filters to sort through the pokie selection and you will not have to wait to play your favourite pokies.
There are many types of pokies available to NZ players and sorting through them can be quite a task. We suggest you consider these 6 categories when choosing what pokies you want to play.
Game Studio
There are hundreds of game studios that develop and release pokie games daily, flooding the NZ casino market with thousands of multi-vendor games. If you are new to playing pokies, we suggest you pick pokie games that have been released by premier game studios before you move on to playing pokies from smaller game studios.
Some of the premier game studios that have a good selection of pokies for NZ players include Netent, Realtime Gaming (RTG), Play'N Go, Rival Gaming, Betsoft, Yggdrasil, KA Gaming and Microgaming.
When you visit the pokie section of an online casino, look at the pokie thumbnail to see if the developer’s name is listed. Alternatively, some casinos will allow you to sort through their pokie collection by developer and you can shortlist pokies from individual game studios.
Some of the top pokies that NZ players enjoy are Gonzo’s Quest, Book of Dead, Starburst, Sweet Bonanza, Mega Moolah, Fire Joker and Jungle Spirit.
Theme
Game studios pick a theme for each of their pokies to make things interesting and to give each pokie a storyline. Some of the popular pokie themes over the years includes mythology, romance, sci-fi, action, horror, music, adventure, movies and classic fruit themed pokies.
You can often tell the theme of a pokie game based on its name. Pick a couple of themes that you like and when you are browsing the pokie selection, look for those themes. This will make it easy for you to shortlist and select which pokie you want to play as you already have a few themes in mind.
Buy-in Range
If you want to win real money playing pokies, then you are going to have bet with real money. Each pokie machine will have a buy-in range with a min and a max bet for each spin. It is important for you to know how much you are willing to spend per pokie session and then narrow it down to how much you want to spend per spin.
Most pokie machines have a min bet range from NZ$0.10 and the max bet can go up to NZ$100+. Some pokies have a min buy-in range that starts from $1 per spin and is more suitable for mid and high stakes poker players who have a bigger bankroll.
So before you decide which pokie you want to play, check the min bet and see if it is suitable for your bankroll.
Pokie Mechanics
Over the years, classic pokie machines with 3 reels and simple gameplay mechanics have given way to modern pokie games that are loaded with special features and complex game mechanics.
You will find lots of pokies that have different game mechanics such as megaways, clusterpays, megaspin, proressive jackpots, megaquads and 5 and 6 reel pokie games. These pokies with special game mechanics make the gameplay a lot more exciting and interesting to play but it can be a bit confusing to new pokie players.
Our recommendation is to first enjoy classic pokies and 3 reel pokies to figure out how things work before you test out megaways pokies and clusterpays pokie games.
Return to Player
Return to Player (RTP) is game mechanic that is incorporate into each pokie that lets you know how much of money wagered on the game you can expect to get in the long term. For example, if the RTP for a pokie game is 95%, then it means that for every NZ$100 wagered on that pokie, a player can expect NZ$95 back in the long run.
The industry average for pokie games is widely considered to be 96 percent and hence we suggest that most of the time you pick pokies that have an RTP of 96 percent or more.
Gamble Feature
There are many online pokies that have a Gamble Feature attached to it which gives you the chance to double your winnings. Whenever you end up winning, the Gamble Feature will pop-up and give you the option to 2x your winnings if you opt in for the gamble feature.
You have the option of withdrawing your winnings without triggering the gambling feature or take a calculated shot at doubling your winnings by using the Gamble Feature.
How To Start Playing Your Favourite Pokies
If you selected to visit a land-based casino in New Zealand or a pub or club offering pokie machines, you will have to verify that you are over the age of 20 by producing your ID.
Once you access the gaming floor, you can choose which pokie machine you want to play at. Sit down and then select a payment option on the machine as some pokie machines accept coins and small bills while others also allow you to use card options like QUICK Pay.
Once you have made a deposit, you can now decide how much you want to bet per spin, by pressing the relevant amount on the pokie machine. You can then hit the ‘spin’ button and wait for the reels to spin and see if you come up with a winning combination.
You can choose to hit the automatic spin button which will continue to spin the reels until you exhaust your deposit or you can use manual spins by hitting the spin button each time by yourself.
If you decide to play online pokies, the process is a little different. We list out 10 steps that you must take to play online pokies.
- Register an account at the online casino you want to play pokies at
- Login to your online casino account and link a payment method to your account
- Make a deposit into your online casino account, keeping in mind the min deposit
- Go to the casino lobby and select pokies to see the full list of pokies on offer
- Make use of the different filter options to further narrow which pokies you want to play
- Click the thumbnail of the pokie you want to play, and wait for it to launch
- Look at the betting range, the min bet, special features and RTP of the pokie
- If you are happy, then select your min bet amount and hit the spin button
- You have the option to keep spinning the reels manually or select the automatic spin button
- If you want to move on to another pokie, click exit and then click on the next pokie you want to play and follow the same steps
How To Cashout Your Pokie Winnings
If you get lucky and end up winning while playing a pokie, you will then have the option to cashout your winnings or keep your winnings and keep playing with it.
If you end up winning under NZ$5,000 at a land-based casino or pokie club, you will be able to visit the cashier and collect your winnings in cash. However, if your winnings are more than NZ$5,000, those winnings will be paid out via cheque.
If you have a pokie win at an online casino, you will need to follow these steps to have a successful cashout.
- Please check if your pokie winnings have come via a casino bonus offer
- If it comes via a bonus offer, do check the wagering requirements attached to the bonus
- You will need to meet these wagering requirements before you are allowed to cashout your bonus winnings
- Example: if you used a NZ$10 welcome bonus that had a 20x wagering requirement, you will be required to wager (NZ$10 x 20 = NZ$200) at the casino before you can cashout any winnings.
- If you won without using any bonus offer, you will be able to cashout your winnings directly
- Before trying to cashout your winnings, make sure your account is verified
- If it is not verified, check with customer support and follow their instructions to verify your account
- Do check for the min and max cashouts permitted per day and per week
- Go to the cashier section and initiate a withdrawal request
- Choose which payment option you want to use to receive your winnings
- Check the withdrawal processing time to see when you can expect your winnings
- If you face any challenges in withdrawing your funds, reach out to customer support for help
Tips To Boost Your Pokie Winnings
While pokie machines operate on a RNG software and are based completely on luck, you can take certain steps to help you boost your odds of winning at a pokie machine.
- Do not play pokies when you are in an emotional state (high or a low)
- Bankroll management is a key in determining your min bet and max spend per pokie session
- Choose to play pokies in a place that is safe and trusted, whether it be a land-based casino, pokie club or online casino
- Pick pokie games based on the 6 category filters we listed above
- Make use of welcome bonus offers and free spin offers
- Take advantage of the free to play option to see how the game works
- If you don’t like the game, select another pokie to play
- Trust your intuition
- Make use of self-exclusion tools offered by the casino if you feel you have a pokie problem
- Learn to walk away and avoid the one more spin syndrome
NZ Pokie Player Myths Busted
NZ pokie players are a superstitious bunch and there are many myths and superstitions that pokie players have gone accustomed to accepting as a matter of fact. We bust a few of those myths below for you!
Recent Win – Don’t Play
Pokie players at a land-based casino or club avoid playing pokie machines that recently paid out a win as they believe it will be a long time coming before another win occurs. This is wrong as the RNG software ensures that the very next spin has the same odds as the previous spin.
No Recent Win – Do Play
Many NZ bettors look for pokie machines that have not had a payout in a long time and believe it increases their odds of winning as a win is due sooner rather than later! This is another myth as there is no guarantee that a win will take place sooner due to the pokie machine not generating a win recently.
Search For Hot Pokies
Some pokie players think that casinos place their big paying pokie machines in the aisles and hence always prefer to play at slot machines located at the end. Online pokie players often look at ‘winners list’ that a lot of casinos display and find what pokies have paid out winnings recently and then immediately play these pokies as they think they are hot pokies which increases their chances of winning. Both are false assumptions as every pokie is controlled by a RNG software.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Is it easier to win at pokies playing at land-based casinos or online casinos? Pokies at land-based casinos and online casinos are operated by a Random Number Generated (RNG) software. The RNG software can produce thousands of different combinations and will pick one when you spin the reels. If that combination matches the combination you selected, you win. So, the odds don’t tilt in your favour irrespective of whether you play at an online casino or land-based casino.
- Are pokies based purely on luck or are there any skills involved in playing? Pokies are based purely on luck as the result of each spin is determined by the RNG and you don’t have any control over it. There are no real skills involved as pokies do not require any game strategy. However, you can follow the tips we have listed above to help you boost your chances of winning at pokies.
- What is the difference between free to play pokies and real money pokies? Online casinos give NZ players the options to play pokies in free to play mode or demo mode. This will allow you to spin the reels and see how the game operates without making any real money deposit of your own and as a result, you cannot win any real money playing free to play pokies. If you want to win real money, you must switch over to real money play, make a real money deposit and then spin the reels and test your luck.
- Is it possible for me to win millions through a pokie jackpot game? Yes, it is possible to win a 7-figure pokie jackpot game at a land-based or online casino. Many news articles refer to huge jackpot wins, but the chances of that happening are very slim.
- Are there any pokie games that I should avoid playing? We suggest you stay away from pokies where the RTP is lower than 95% as it becomes a lot harder for you to win. Don’t play pokie games that have a high min bet when you have a small bankroll as each spin will eat away quickly at your bankroll. We also suggest not using casino bonuses that have high wagering requirements (50x or more is too high) to play pokies as it becomes difficult to cashout your winnings.
- What should I do if I feel I am developing a pokie addiction? If you feel you are showcasing signs of gambling addiction, it is important for you to get help right away. If you are playing at an online casino, use the self-exclusion tools to restrict your time, spending or alternatively shutdown your online casino account for good. You can also reach out to the NZ Gambling Helpline or Problem Gambling Foundation for further assistance.