Vixio World Cup: New Zealand vs Ireland Match Report

New Zealand vs Ireland is the second fixture in Vixio's gambling market World Cup, and it is a tighter contest than the opening matchup!

Ireland already has measurable online betting momentum, but its online casino framework is still to be determined. New Zealand has no licensed online casino market yet, but its 2027 launch is now taking shape around a capped pool of 15 licences, a fixed application window and clear enforcement intent.

So which market offers the stronger near-term opportunity?

To find out, we’re judging New Zealand and Ireland across four rounds: market size, growth outlook, regulatory environment and barriers to entry. Each round is worth one goal.

Let’s kick off! 

First half: Market size and growth outlook

Market size: Ireland's online betting market has genuine momentum. Remote betting turnover jumped 36.9 percent year-on-year to €1.2bn in the first quarter of 2026, the steepest rate of online wagering growth in five years. Full-year turnover reached €3.44bn in 2025, which would convert to roughly €348m in online net revenue using UK market margin benchmarks.

The ceiling on that figure is visible. Flutter's Paddy Power, the dominant domestic brand, has reported flat Irish net revenue of around $300m for three consecutive years. Still, Ireland's online market has until now been limited to sports betting. There is no licensing regime for online casino games yet. The market is growing, but within a constrained product set.

New Zealand doesn’t yet have a regulated online casino market to measure. The Online Casino Gambling Act 2026 came into force on May 1, 2026, and the full licensed regime is not expected to be operational until 2027. What New Zealand does have is a clearly defined opportunity: a market currently served by unlicensed offshore operators, a government actively seeking to recapture that revenue and a deliberately restricted competitive field of 15 licences.

The size story here is not about current GGR. It is about where the revenue is going and who gets to capture it. Ireland edges this round on measurable revenue today, but New Zealand's structural opportunity is already taking shape.

Winner: Ireland

Growth outlook: Ireland's growth trajectory in sports betting is strong, but the product expansion that would drive a step change in revenue is still waiting on regulation. There is currently no licensing regime live or other types of online gambling games, including online casino games. The Gambling Regulation Act 2024 provides the legislative foundation for the licensing of online casino games; however, the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland (GRAI) has not yet published technical standards and B2C or B2B supplier licensing applications are not yet being accepted. The regulator is operating a phased rollout, and the timeline for casino licensing remains unconfirmed.

New Zealand's growth story is structural. The Online Casino Gambling Act 2026 is in force. The Online Casino Gambling Regulations 2026 were published on June 2, 2026 and due to come into effect on July 3. The government has confirmed a 2027 launch target and expressions of interest for the 15 available licences open next month, with a hard December 1 submission deadline. 

Entain reported accelerated 17 percent growth in net revenue from its joint venture for online sports betting with TAB NZ in 2025, with New Zealand already driving 3 percent of group online NGR.

A tightly capped licence pool, clear enforcement intent and a defined launch timeline give New Zealand a growth story that is more concrete than Ireland's. New Zealand equalises.

Winner: New Zealand

Half-time: New Zealand 1, Ireland 1

Here is what our chief analyst, James Kilsby, had to say about the first half:

"Ireland has the existing revenue base but it is essentially a sports-betting market waiting for casino regulation to arrive. New Zealand is similar but we are at a later stage of the game . For operators and suppliers trying to plan ahead, New Zealand's timeline is clearer right now."

Second half: Regulatory environment and barriers to entry

Regulatory environment: Ireland's regulatory framework is in transition. The GRAI has been operational since March 2025 and the licensing portal opened in February 2026 for remote betting and betting intermediary licences. That is progress. But online casino games remain unlicensed. 

New Zealand's framework for iGaming is more advanced. The Online Casino Gambling Act 2026 is in force and the accompanying regulations come into effect on July 3, 2026. The Department of Internal Affairs is managing a staged implementation, with licensing arrangements, harm minimisation systems and compliance requirements being progressively introduced ahead of the 2027 launch. The framework draws on established jurisdictions including the UK, without replicating some of their more restrictive recent measures. Some technical and testing standards remain to be confirmed, but the direction and timeline are clear.

For operators and suppliers trying to scope a compliant market entry, New Zealand offers something Ireland currently cannot: a published framework with a confirmed launch date. New Zealand takes the lead.

Winner: New Zealand

Barriers to entry: Both markets are small by population, with around five million people each. Neither will trouble the global top 10 by GGR. That is the honest starting point for both.

In Ireland, the barriers to online casino entry are generally  undefined rather than low; however, the Gambling Regulation Act 2024 sets a cap on stakes and prizes while credit card payments are prohibited. Advertising restrictions are already in force, including a watershed ban on broadcast gambling advertising before 9pm. Inducements to players are restricted. But the specific costs, technical requirements and compliance obligations for casino operators have not yet been established. Teams cannot fully scope entry costs until the GRAI publishes its standards.

New Zealand is deliberately restrictive in a more structured way. Fifteen licences, a two-step auction and selection process run by the Department of Internal Affairs, a hard December 1 submission deadline and fines of up to NZ$5m for unlicensed operators serving New Zealand players after launch. The tax burden is also significant: a 15 percent GST, a 16 percent duty on gross gambling revenue and a quarterly 3.5 percent levy on profit, on top of ordinary corporate tax. Online sports betting remains a TAB NZ and Entain monopoly, so casino operators cannot offer a combined product.

Those constraints are real. But they also define a market where a fixed pool of 15 operators will compete for players currently using unlicensed offshore sites. The competitive field is known, the enforcement intent is serious and the opportunity is one of the most clearly structured in the Asia-Pacific region, where regulated iGaming markets remain genuinely scarce. New Zealand closes out the match.

Winner: New Zealand

Full time: New Zealand 3, Ireland 1

Ireland has genuine momentum in online betting and a broadening regulatory framework that will eventually cover casino games. The GRAI is operational, the licensing portal is open for betting and the legislative foundation is in place. But the casino regulations are not ready, and the dominant operator in the online betting market has been flat for three years. 

New Zealand is further ahead. The act is in force, the regulations are published, the licensing process opens next month and the market launches in 2027. It is small, tightly licensed and comes with a meaningful tax burden. But it is one of the most intriguing new market opportunities for the global iGaming industry in the second half of 2026.

Winner: New Zealand

How Vixio helps you expand into new jurisdictions like New Zealand and Ireland 

New Zealand and Ireland are both entering important regulatory transition periods. Operators and suppliers that prepare early will be better placed to secure approval, meet local requirements and launch as soon as each market opens.

Vixio is a unified regulatory change management platform built specifically for gambling operators, suppliers, aggregators, platform providers and PSPs. It replaces fragmented research and static spreadsheets with structured, expert-led intelligence so teams can move faster without losing control of the detail.

The Vixio platform gives you the full intelligence picture on markets such as New Zealand and Ireland, as well as covering 200+ jurisdictions in total. When you are ready to act on that intelligence, our expert team can help you shape growth plans around market entry, expansion, product strategy and regulatory change.

When you subscribe to Vixio, you will also get access to:

• Up-to-date Country Reports. Structured regulatory intelligence for New Zealand and Ireland covering licensing frameworks, technical requirements, AML obligations, advertising rules and regulatory change history. Everything your team needs to make a confident go or no-go decision before committing budget or roadmap capacity.

• Technical Compliance tool. Map jurisdiction-specific technical requirements across 50+ markets before committing engineering or legal resources. For New Zealand, where the December 1 submission deadline is fixed and supplier certification requirements are still being confirmed, identifying platform gaps early is the difference between making the licensing window and missing it entirely.

• Continuous regulatory monitoring. Vixio tracks 1,400+ regulatory sources and surfaces updates categorised by urgency. In Ireland, where the GRAI is rolling out licensing in phases and casino technical standards have yet to be published, teams that spot relevant developments early have more time to plan. Teams that find out late start from scratch.
  
  
• Audit-ready evidence. Every action is permanently linked to the regulatory update that triggered it. Operators carry the licensing risk. Vixio gives teams the documented audit trail to prove control before it is ever questioned.

Want to try it for yourself? Book a demo with our expert team to learn more and discuss how we can support your market expansion strategy.

Next match: South Africa takes on the United States