When it comes to choosing whether you play at an online casino or not, there are a number of things that must be taken into regard. We know that this is a difficult task for most players out there, as they are not professionals in the industry and don’t know what to look for.
At CasinoKiwi, we are sold out to guiding New Zealand players to the best online casino sites for them. As such, we have reviewed scores of casinos to help you go through the process of analysing whether specific sites will suit your style and needs or not.
In our reviews, we are very pedantic about what we look for in a good casino. By sharing specific categories with you it becomes plain to see who ranks as a top operator, who gets by on the average effort, and who underwhelmingly disappoints.
Here is what we look at when evaluating and reviewing Kiwi casinos.
The Legitimacy of the Casino
This is probably one of the most important factors to assess on a casino site, as players will not want to play at casinos with poor reputations. In order to test the legitimacy of a casino we look at several factors:
- Licensing: The casino should be licensed for peace of mind. Some of the best casinos for Kiwi players are those licensed by the Malta Gaming Authority, UK Gambling Commission, and Gibraltar Gaming Commissioner. Unlicensed casinos should be avoided.
- Audited: You should be interested in whether the casino’s gaming software is legitimate. Good casinos will have independent auditors come in and test their RNGS and software for fair outcomes. Most top casinos will use leading testing companies like eCogra, iTech Labs, or TST. When these businesses certify the software, you know that all virtual gaming outcomes are legitimately random and fair.
- Security: All legitimate casinos will have some sort of software security system in place. This will be at least a 128-bit Secure Socket Layer encryption to keep players’ details private.
- Responsible: All legitimate online casinos will promote responsible gambling and will actively provide tools to aid vulnerable gamblers to manage their gaming habits strictly.
Games on Offer
Everyone logs on at a casino for the games. It is therefore vitally important for you to know what sort of games can be found on the site. Top casinos will always offer a strong selection of pokies and table games. The better ones will even offer Progressive Jackpots and Live Casino gaming options.
There is really no point in playing at a casino that has everything else together but is lacking in the fundamental department that is tied to the entertainment.
Software on Offer
Nice looking games are one thing, but players want to know whether the gaming technology is trustworthy and whether the calibre of the games meets premium standards.
We will always reveal who the main game providers are at a casino. Some of the best studios to look out for are NetEnt, Microgaming, Play’n GO, Pragmatic Play, Red Tiger, Yggdrasil, Thunderkick, SG Digital, IGT, WMS, and more. The list goes on and the more time you spend playing casino games, the sooner you will realise who the big punters are.
It is also important to know whether the casino site supports all gaming platforms. With rising trends in Mobile gaming, not having mobile capabilities can be a real deal-breaker for many players. The leading trend in mobile circles right now is being able to play the software directly from the browser without additional downloads, thanks to HTML5 technology. All of this information and more will be shared in our exhaustive reviews.
Support
A good casino support team is vital to a happy membership. When things go awry or you need to clear things up, it’s important that you can get in contact with casino support quickly and efficiently.
Thankfully most ‘’on the ball’’ casinos offer extended support hours, up to 24 hours. This means that players in different time zones will have access to support in their peak gaming times.
The makings of a first-class support service include:
- Live Chat Option: Live chat allows you to text a message to a support agent and get a reply within seconds. This is always good for short queries.
- Languages: While Kiwis only need to converse in English, an ability to service a diverse language base range shows the status of a casino.
An unfriendly and unhelpful environment will want to be avoided, but fortunately, this is experienced rarely at top casinos.
Money Matters
Playing at online casinos requires you to make online payments and withdrawals. This is only possible if the casino provides you with convenient ways to transact. Not only should several payment options be available to New Zealanders to warrant your time and support at the operator, but its preferable that the casino accepts the local NZ$ currency too. While not playing in NZ Dollars is not a deal-breaker, it sure does make wagering more complicated and costs a lot more when you need to convert currencies on withdrawals, etc.
Some of the top Kiwi payment methods include:
- Visa and Mastercard
- Paysafecard
- NeoSurf
- Skrill
- Skrill 1 Tap
- Neteller
- Jeton
- EcoPayz
- POLi
The more of the above methods available for Kiwis at the casino, the more Kiwi-friendly it truly is.
Bonuses and Promotions
Finally, we come to one of the biggest drawcards at an online casino – the promotions and bonuses that they offer.
While we will always furnish the offers for you, we always strive to summarise some of the fine print and link the terms and conditions to the review. This is because, no matter how good an offer looks, it’s only as good as its fine print. Be sure to check the:
- Wagering requirements
- Minimum Deposit
- Maximum Withdrawal
- Maximum Bet per round
All top casinos will offer a range of promotions to keep both newcomers and loyal supporters happy. Premium sites will always have:
- A Good Welcome Offer: New players want to feel welcome, so any offer giving them exclusive access to a bonus of some sort upon their first deposit is the industry norm. Weak bonuses show weak intent.
- Other Promotions and Bonuses: Ideally, a casino ought to offer promotions to its regulars, if not it shows it is only interested in new sign-ups. Keep a lookout for free spins, bonus spins, reload bonuses, cashbacks, deposit match offers, and more.
- A Loyalty Program/VIP Program: An online casino with a loyalty program or VIP Club takes its customers seriously. Here, you have a way of earning bonuses and perks, even when you are not winning.
- Tournaments: While not a major indicator of a casino’s quality, tournaments are always a welcome offering. It gives competitive players the environment that they want, with the chance of winning amazing cash prizes in the process.
Be sure to evaluate the strength of the bonus offerings at a casino, as we always do. It is important to know how willing a casino is to give back to its supporters.
Round-Up
As you can see from above, we cover all the bases when reviewing casinos for our Kiwis. We take time to test them on every level so that you will be furnished with the information you need to make the decision of which casinos will work for you and which ones won’t.
