The 100-point rubric
Six pillars, weighted by how much each one actually moves the needle for a Kiwi player. Licensing and withdrawal mechanics carry the most weight because they're where things go wrong in a dispute; bonuses carry the least because the marketed value rarely survives the wagering maths.
| Pillar | Points | How it's scored |
|---|---|---|
| Licensing & legal integrity | 20 | MGA 18 · Gibraltar 15 · Curaçao with active independent auditor 10 · Curaçao without auditor 4 · No licence: disqualified. |
| NZ player experience | 15 | NZD support 5 · POLi/Skrill/Neteller 4 · English-speaking support with sub-3h chat response 3 · Mobile site quality 3. |
| Game library | 15 | Provider count 5 (1pt per major studio up to 15) · Pokies-to-table ratio 4 · Live-dealer presence 3 · RTP-per-game published 3. |
| Withdrawals | 20 | Documented time-to-payout <24h 10 (gradient down to 2 at 5+ days) · KYC friction 5 · Withdrawal caps 5 (≤NZ$2k/week = 0). |
| Bonuses & wagering | 10 | Clarity of T&Cs 4 · Wagering multiplier sanity 6 (≤35× full · 35–50× half · >50× zero). |
| Responsible-gambling tools | 10 | Deposit limit, loss limit, self-exclusion, reality checks all present = full 10 · One missing = 7 · Two missing = 3. |
| Customer support | 10 | 24/7 live chat 4 · Response-time benchmark <5 min 3 · Complaint-resolution track record 3. |
A perfect score is 100. In practice we've never given one — the rubric is calibrated so that a solid, recommendable operator lands somewhere between 80 and 95. Anything below 70 doesn't make our recommendation list.
Disqualifying conditions
Some failures aren't a deduction — they're a hard stop. Any of the following means we will not recommend a site, regardless of the score the other pillars would produce:
- No verifiable licence. If we can't find the operator on its claimed regulator's public register, the review ends there.
- Documented theft or bankruptcy with player balances held. If an operator has gone under owing players money, or has been found to have misappropriated player funds, it's out for good.
- Max-bet-during-wagering clauses that void winnings retroactively. A flat max-bet cap during bonus play is fine; a clause that lets the operator confiscate winnings if you breach it without warning is not.
- Geo-block reversals. Operators that accept NZ deposits and then ban NZ players after the fact are off the list permanently.
- Refusal to honour self-exclusion. Any documented case of an operator allowing a self-excluded player back without the player's verified request is an immediate disqualification.
Re-testing cadence
Every recommended site is re-tested twice yearly. A re-test means: open or re-fund an account, play 50 spins on three different pokies (one low-volatility, one mid, one high), request a withdrawal, complete KYC if not already verified, and file at least one support query measuring response time and quality of the answer. Scores can move up or down as a result of a re-test. We plan to publish redacted test logs at /methodology/test-log/ once we have six months of data on record.
Affiliate disclosure
SoftRock NZ earns commission when a reader signs up at a recommended casino via one of our links. Commission rates vary between operators — some pay flat, some revenue share, some hybrid — and we don't take paid placement. Commission does not influence ranking. The methodology is the gate; the ranking is the score. Operators do not see their score before publication and have no editorial input on review copy. When we re-test and a score moves materially, the page is updated and the change noted in the page's last-reviewed line. If an operator we earn from has a slow-withdrawal pattern, an opaque KYC process or a bonus clause we think is unfair, we say so on the review page. The affiliate relationship doesn't buy silence.
Spotted an error?
Email [email protected] with the casino, the rubric line, and what we missed or got wrong. We correct verified errors within 7 days and note the change at the bottom of the affected page.
Last reviewed: 16 June 2026 · Author: Noah Smith · How we rate