Blackjack is a casino classic adored by card game fans worldwide, and thanks to its popularity at online casino sites, New Zealanders no longer have to venture for a night at land based casinos like SkyCity Auckland or SkyCity Queenstown to place real money bets on this time-honoured card game. We explain how to play 21 at the best online casino sites, how to deposit real money using NZD and the types of blackjack games you can expect to find when playing at the leading Kiwi-friendly casino sites.
Best online blackjack sites for New Zealand
Is it legal to play online blackjack in New Zealand?
All forms of gambling in New Zealand are governed by the laws of the Gambling Act 2003, which has stipulations in place regarding remote gambling which is defined as “gambling by a person at a distance by interaction through a communication device.” Under the Act, remote gambling is prohibited, however, it’s not all black and white.
As clarified by the New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs, “The prohibition is on remote interactive gambling in New Zealand and therefore does not prohibit gambling conducted overseas. For example, it is not illegal for someone in New Zealand to participate in gambling over the Internet if that website is based overseas.”
Therefore, New Zealand residents are free to place real money blackjack bets online, as long as the casino you play at is located and licensed on foreign soil by international jurisdictions, like those recommended across our site.
How to play blackjack online
Playing blackjack online is easy and requires no prior knowledge of how to deal or shuffle cards, or how the blackjack layout works. Online blackjack sites let players demo games for free, so you can familiarise yourself with how online play unfolds and get a hang of the rules if you’re a complete newbie.
To play blackjack online, all you need to do is choose a safe, reputable online casino which accepts New Zealand accounts and hosts a range of blackjack variants, like any of those recommended in our casino table above. These casinos are all available in instant-play mode, which means you can play games directly over your Web browser without having to worry about downloading any software. Games are also available for mobile play.
To play for real money, sign up for an account by entering basic personal information like your name, date of birth and address, then log in and make an instant deposit to start playing for real money. Click to select the online blackjack game you want to play, use your mouse or touch screen to set the size of your wager and confirm your bet to deal cards. Online blackjack uses advanced RNG (random number generated) software with sophisticated algorithms, so the computer will make the deal and you just need to follow the prompts to hit or stand. Any winnings you make will be automatically credited back to your account, while any losses will simply be deducted from your bankroll.
For more information about playing blackjack online, you might also want to check out these helpful guides:
What online blackjack games are available?
One of the major advantages to playing blackjack online versus in a land based New Zealand casino is the sheer range of game variants available. When playing in real life, you are limited to whichever variations of 21 the NZ casino operator has chosen to offer, and these are typically the games that come with higher house edges to pay in favour of the casino.
When playing online you have the freedom to choose what blackjack variant you wish to play, and with the leading online casino sites offering multiple variants there’s plenty of choices available to suit your own personal preferences.
The range of online blackjack variants available depends on the casino site you are playing at, with multi-provider sites (ones offering games from a large selection of software providers) offering the most variety. The best blackjack games on the Internet come from the likes of such premium game studios as Microgaming, Betsoft, NetEnt, Playtech and others. Here is just a sample of the blackjack variants you can expect to find at our endorsed casino sites:
- Classic Blackjack
- American Blackjack
- European Blackjack
- French Blackjack
- Single Deck Blackjack
- Multi-Hand Blackjack
- Players Choice Blackjack
- Blackjack Surrender
- Pontoon
- Super Fun 21
- Pirate 21
- VIP Blackjack
- Super 7 Blackjack
- Double Exposure Blackjack
- Blackjack Reno
- Live Dealer Blackjack
- Playboy Live Dealer Blackjack
- Live Blackjack Party
Online casinos offer New Zealand players the option of sampling games for free in practice mode, so you can try these variants out without having to risk any of your own money, familiarising yourself with new rules and working on your strategy before deciding if you want to place a real money wager.
How to deposit to play for real money using NZD
Many of the best online blackjack sites allow accounts to be set up using New Zealand dollars (NZD) so it’s easy for Kiwis to play using local currency without having to worry about exchange fees. To make a deposit, log in to your online casino account and go to the banking/cashier/deposit section (the name of this section will vary depending where you’re playing) where you will be shown the list of payment methods available to New Zealand players. Select your deposit option, enter the amount of funds you wish to transfer and follow the prompts to complete your transaction.
New Zealanders can expect to find the following trusted payment methods available at online blackjack sites, but be aware the options vary between all venues:
- Visa
- MasterCard
- Neteller
- Skrill
- Paysafecard
- ecoPayz
- EntroPay
- Direct Bank Transfers
Withdrawal methods also vary, but generally offer a combination of the above.
Payments made to our recommended casino sites are protected by a bare minimum of 128 Bit SSL (secure socket layer) digital encryption, so you can rest assured your deposits are secured.
Best blackjack sites for Kiwi players
All good online casinos offer an array of online blackjack variants, but none are quite as good as those recommended in our casino table at the top of this page. This table has been geo-targeted to recognise your location and only recommend leading casinos accepting players from your country. You can use our table to read our detailed reviews of each casino site and the blackjack games it has to offer, or sign up using our links to get access to some exciting new player welcome bonuses.
