DashTickets is operated by Dash Tickets New Zealand Limited and was founded in 2009 by Matthew Robert Davey. It is an online magazine focusing on delivering comprehensive reviews of offshore online casinos in New Zealand — an underregulated but highly popular niche in the market.
“New Zealand currently only effectively regulates land casinos and local online casinos, leaving offshore casinos — a huge piece of the market — completely untouched. As a result, you see casinos occasionally break the rules with no consequences. Our goal is to ensure that New Zealanders get only high-quality casino experiences, which is why we work so hard on our reviews — they’re the only layer of protection that exists today,” says Mark Dash, editor-in-chief of DashTickets.
Over the last few years, DashTickets has become one of the leading niche websites in New Zealand, with thousands of local players relying on its DashScore to choose online casinos. The team analyzes around four casinos a week, and its thorough approach to reviews has developed a certain set of criteria that local players look into, and casino owners try to follow.
“When we started, we knew that unbiased casino reviews are a rarity, so we weren’t worried about getting our spot in the market. However, we didn’t imagine just how important DashTickets would become. The combination of the lack of governmental regulation with high trust in our reviews has led to this, and we are extremely grateful to our audience and are highly motivated to keep up the good work,” says Dash.
An example of a casino review page from DashTickets
DashTickets’ criteria for New Zealand-friendly offshore casinos
When DashTickets tests offshore casinos, it does so from an average New Zealand player’s perspective. What that means is that it’s not enough for a casino to offer a lot of high-quality services — these services have to perfectly suit New Zealanders.
| DashTickets’ criteria for a good offshore casino operating in New Zealand | |
| Bulletproof record of paying the winners | The casino should have a crystal-clear backstory and reputation with no complaints about unpaid winnings. |
| Respect towards players | The casino should treat New Zealand players respectfully, offering the best services and ensuring high standards of communication. |
| NZD as a natively used currency | The casino should use NZD as one of the default options if it operates in New Zealand. ; There should be no unnecessary currency conversions. |
| Best pokies popular with local players | Pokies are highly popular in New Zealand, and some are more popular than others. The casino should adapt to the local market and offer the most popular options for local players. |
| A multitude of payment options popular among New Zealanders | The casino should offer multiple convenient payment options so that local players don’t have to rely on unfamiliar offshore services. |
| Quick payments | The casino should ensure instant or reasonably quick payments for local players like inclave payment method. |
“We’ve seen enough casinos in our market to know how easy or difficult it is to follow these criteria, which is why we demand that offshore casino websites follow them if they expect to get a decent DashScore. And we see casino owners comply with them, making their services significantly more welcoming for New Zealanders,” says Sophia Novakivska, author at DashTickets.
Apart from these requirements, the team behind DashTickets ensures that the casinos are legitimate in every other sense of the word as well. The team’s reviewer will operate as a mystery shopper and use real NZD to play around 10 hours of games before trying to withdraw the winnings. DashTickets also evaluates the RTP of the games provided by casinos, using third-party software for unbiased results.
An example of a casino review page from DashTickets
With all of this combined, it comes as no surprise that DashTickets’ reviews became so valued by the local gambling community.
“In a niche so heavily dominated by advertisements and paid PR articles, unbiased reviews written from a New Zealander’s perspective are a breath of fresh air, and even we as a team of journalists understand it. Our audience puts a lot of trust in us, so we ensure this standard of quality is upheld at all times,” says Sophia Novakivska.
DashTickets: moving forward
While becoming one of the leading niche websites in New Zealand is certainly an achievement, the team only acknowledges it as a motivation to move forward.
“Right now, we are the website you check when you need to learn whether a certain casino is legit and treats New Zealanders properly. What we aim to be is the number one website you visit for any industry-related information. We already provide market statistics and legal analyses, as well as articles on problem gambling, and we only plan to do more in the future. Luckily, we have just the right team to achieve this goal,” says Mark Dash, editor-in-chief of DashTickets.
Want to connect with DashTickets?
If you’re interested in contacting DashTickets or collaborating with the team as an affiliate partner, reach out at https://dashtickets.nz/contact-us/.
