Our review process, step by step
- We open and fund a real account. Using our own money, in NZD, through a payment method a Kiwi player would actually use — Visa/Mastercard, bank transfer, a prepaid voucher or crypto. If the sign-up or deposit is a mess, that gets noted straight away.
- We play, then request a withdrawal — and we time it. This is the single most important test we run. We put a real withdrawal request through and start the clock, from "submitted" to "money received". We record how long pending/review takes, whether extra ID was demanded at cash-out, and whether the amount that arrived matched the amount we asked for.
- We read the bonus terms line by line. Wagering multiplier, which games count and by how much, maximum bet while a bonus is active, maximum cash-out from bonus winnings, and any expiry. A generous headline offer with hostile terms scores worse than a modest one that's actually clearable.
- We check the licence and the operator. We confirm the stated licence (Malta MGA, Curaçao, Anjouan, Kahnawake) is real and check the operator's history for withheld payouts or bonus-term games.
- We test support. We ask live chat a genuine question and see whether a person answers, how fast, and whether the answer is right.
How we score — and the weights
Every site is scored out of 5 across five categories. The weights aren't arbitrary; they reflect what actually determines whether a Kiwi player has a good experience. Getting paid quickly matters far more than a big number on the front page, so payout speed carries the most weight.
| What we score | Weight | What earns a top mark |
|---|---|---|
| Payout speed | 30% | Our test withdrawal cleared same-day (e-wallet/crypto) or within 1–3 business days (bank), with no surprise ID hold. |
| NZD banking | 20% | Deposits and withdrawals in New Zealand dollars, methods that work in NZ, and no forced currency conversion. |
| Bonus fairness | 20% | Wagering at 35× or below, sensible game weightings, and no hidden max-cash-out or max-bet traps. |
| Game range | 15% | Pokies from top studios (Pragmatic, NetEnt, Play'n GO) plus a genuine live-dealer studio. |
| Trust & support | 15% | A verifiable licence, a clean payout record, and 24/7 live chat that actually answers. |
The five category scores are combined by those weights into the overall rating you see at the top of each review. There's no secret sixth factor and no editorial "gut feel" override on the number — the weights do the work.
When we blacklist a site
Some sites don't just miss the cut — they earn a place on our internal blacklist, which means we won't list or recommend them at any price. A site gets blacklisted when it:
- delays, part-pays or refuses a legitimate withdrawal, including ours during testing;
- changes bonus terms after the fact, or hides a max-cash-out clause that guts a win;
- operates without a licence we can verify, or under one that's been revoked;
- demands unreasonable KYC purely to stall a cash-out;
- ignores or stonewalls support requests from us or from readers who write in.
Blacklisting isn't permanent — if an operator genuinely fixes the problem and pays out cleanly on a fresh round of testing, it can earn its way back. But the burden of proof is on them.
How often we re-check
Gambling sites change constantly — bonuses get worse, payout teams get slower, ownership changes hands. A review is only useful if it reflects the site as it is today, so we re-check every listed site on a rolling schedule, at minimum every few months and immediately if we or a reader report a problem. Each review carries a "last updated" date so you can see how fresh the information is. Today's date is 2026-08-11.
Who does the reviewing
Reviews are written and rated by named members of our team, each working to their specialism — Anahera on casinos and pokies, Hemi on sports betting, and Kaia on crypto and payments. Meet them on our authors page.