Best Online Pokies Casinos in NZ

We never recommend a pokies casino unless our experts are confident it has passed our series of checks and tests. We’ll give you a comprehensive and unbiased breakdown of all the pros and cons of each provider.

It’s worth noting that just having a wide selection of slots isn’t enough to warrant a place on our list of the best casinos. We’ve also put a lot of emphasis on user experience, the quality of the mobile user interface, and how easy it is to find the game you want to play. We’ll also let you know if there are any unique gameplay features you won’t find anywhere else in NZ.

It’s hard to find a casino game that offers more variety than online pokies. There’s almost no limit to the number of formats, themes, special features and bonuses that can be used to make each machine truly unique.

While there are thousands of different pokies online, there are ways to intelligently sort through these games and find ones that work for you. Whether it's penny slots at minimum deposit casinos or live dealer games at live casinos, there's a system to the madness.

Below, we’ll talk about the common variations that you’ll see time and again at the best pokies casinos. We’ll also talk about the providers who are innovating slots to this day, and break down the two main categories of pokie machines: video pokies and classic pokies.

Once upon a time, the only pokies were mechanical three-reel games in land-based casinos.

A century later, there’s an endless number of game types you can try when you play online pokies. Supercool themed slots based on your favourite movies, bands and TV shows are popping up on a daily basis. 

The classic three and five-reel games are still a big part of the slots landscape. These games offer straightforward action, but at online pokies casinos, they include bonus rounds and special features to spice things up.

One of the biggest innovations in online pokies was the introduction of 243 ways games. These machines let you pay one flat price to get every left-to-right combination on a five-reel machine with three positions on each reel. There are 243 ways to win in these games, thus the name. Some games offer even more combinations, with 1,024 ways online pokies also popular today.

Of course, one of the biggest draws of playing pokies online is the potential to win a huge jackpot. Progressive slots offer jackpots that offer up prizes that can be quite big. And those can be triggered by hitting a lucky combination on one of the biggest jackpot slots online. 

Almost every software provider creates online slots on a regular basis. However, only a few of these companies have truly changed the way that we play pokie machines online.

We talked a bit about progressive jackpots above. The biggest jackpots of all time have come from Microgaming machines, with Mega Moolah in particular having produced some massive prizes. In 2021, one player won $0 on the Absolutely Mad Mega Moolah online slot, setting a new online record.

When it comes to style and graphics, BetSoft is one of the more notable innovators in online slots. Their games use a unique, cartoonish 3D perspective that’s unlike anything else on the market. With unique features and classic titles like The Slotfather, this is a collection every pokies fan should check out.

We’d also like to point to Yggdrasil as one of the more innovative creators on the market today. Although they were only founded in 2013, the company quickly established itself with a unique set of games that combine unique features, slick gameplay and beautiful graphics to create one of the most memorable online slots experiences around. 

One of the biggest divides in the online slots world is between video and classic pokies machines. These are two very broad categories with lots of variety in each. Still, there’s a clear difference between these two categories of games.

Classic pokies emulate the feel of mechanical slots in live casinos. These games offer a limited number of paylines on three or five reels of gameplay. While some special features are possible, they generally keep gameplay simpler, focused mainly on matching symbols in the base game above all else.

Video pokies offer more complex graphics, larger fields of play and more paylines to win on. These games can feature complex, multistage bonus rounds, more innovative features, and gorgeous graphics and sound. Alongside more complex features, there are also more bonus functionalities and free spins opportunities.

Which type of game you like better is a matter of taste. If you’re all about the latest, most advanced features and engaging gameplay that goes beyond just matching symbols, video slots are for you. However, if you like to keep things simple and just look for winning combinations on the reels, then classic pokies are a great option.