Sales promotions
A business promotes its goods or services with a draw. Entrants pay nothing beyond the normal retail price, and online promotions must run as a lottery drawn after entries close.
NZ New Zealand · Guide
Prize draws in New Zealand.
New Zealand keeps paid-entry gambling tightly controlled. Businesses run sales promotions, and societies run raffles by class, with licensed class 3 draws allowed fully online since November 2024.
01 At a glance
The short version.
- Law
- Gambling Act 2003
- Regulator
- Department of Internal Affairs (DIA)
- Businesses
- Sales promotion schemes, with no charge beyond the normal retail price
- Class 2
- Prizes up to $5,000 and turnover up to $25,000, no licence
- Class 3
- Prizes over $5,000, DIA licence required
- Online
- Licensed class 3 raffles and lotteries can run fully online since 1 November 2024
02 The models
Three ways draws run.
Only businesses running genuine promotions and societies raising funds can run draws, and the size of the prize decides the class.
Class 2 society gambling
Smaller raffles run by societies, with prizes up to $5,000 and turnover up to $25,000. No licence is needed.
Class 3 society gambling
Larger raffles and lotteries with prizes over $5,000, licensed by the Department of Internal Affairs. Since November 2024 they can run fully online.
+ Know before you run
What operators need to know.
- Online paid prize competitions and instant-win games are prohibited for businesses.
- A paid competition that combines skill and chance is treated as gambling.
- The November 2024 change lets licensed class 3 raffles and lotteries run fully online.
- Sales promotions cannot charge anything beyond the usual retail price of the goods or services.
03 Questions
Common questions.
Can businesses run paid-entry draws in New Zealand?
Only as sales promotions, where entrants pay nothing beyond the normal retail price. Online paid prize competitions and instant-win games are prohibited.
Can raffles be run online in New Zealand?
Licensed class 3 raffles and lotteries have been able to run fully online since 1 November 2024.
What is the difference between class 2 and class 3?
Class 2 covers prizes up to $5,000 and turnover up to $25,000 and needs no licence. Class 3 covers prizes over $5,000 and needs a licence from the Department of Internal Affairs.
Is a paid skill competition legal in New Zealand?
A paid competition that combines skill and chance is treated as gambling, so it falls under the Gambling Act rather than outside it.
Sources
- Remote interactive gambling and the Gambling Act 2003, DIA
- Prize competition game rules, DIA
- Classes of gambling, DIA
- Class 3 lottery licence rule changes, DIA
General information, not legal advice. Rules change and depend on exactly how a draw is run, so take advice for your own model. Reviewed September 2026.
04 Access
Running draws in New Zealand? Talk to us.
Every Blockdraws draw is sealed in advance and verifiable by anyone, under your own brand. Tell us how you run draws today.
Blockdraws is white-label draw software with every draw verifiable by anyone. Available by application.
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