Independent since 2024
About outofthewoods.co.nz [September 2026]: Who We Are, How We Test, How We Are Paid
We are a small New Zealand editorial team that tests online casinos and sportsbooks the tedious way: real accounts, real deposits, real withdrawals, timed to the minute. This page explains who we are, how we work, how we are paid, and what we will not do.
By Jordan Whitcombe, Editor-in-Chief·
Fact-checked by Aroha Tainui·Updated 21 September 2026·Next review 20 October 2026outofthewoods.co.nz exists because most New Zealand casino comparison content is written by people who have never opened an account at the sites they recommend. Feeds get reprinted, bonus numbers get copied, payout claims get repeated, and payment methods that stopped working eighteen months ago stay on the page. We started this site to do the boring version properly.
The boring version means opening an account from an Auckland or Christchurch IP address, putting our own money through it, reading every clause of the bonus terms, timing the withdrawal with a stopwatch and asking the support desk something awkward at three in the morning. It takes about six hours per operator and we do it again every month.
What we do
Test operators properly
Real accounts, real deposits, real withdrawals from a New Zealand IP address. Six hours of active testing per operator, repeated monthly.
Our methodology →Time every withdrawal
A log of 241 withdrawals and counting, recording confirmation time, funds-available time, holds and what was asked for.
The payout data →Read the terms so you do not have to
Every bonus, clause by clause: what the multiple applies to, game weighting, maximum bet, expiry, cash-out caps.
Bonus analysis →Track the law
Written from the Online Casino Gambling Act 2026 and the regulations themselves, with section-level detail and dates.
NZ gambling law →Publish the negatives
We list operators we would not use, with reasons. A comparison site that only recommends is an advertisement.
All reviews →Say when we are wrong
Corrections are logged on the page. If a figure here is stale, we would rather hear about it than have you rely on it.
Corrections →What makes us different
| What most comparison sites do | What we do |
|---|---|
| Quote the operator’s stated payout window | Publish a measured median with the sample size attached |
| Rank on headline bonus size | Rank on turnover required, game weighting, maximum bet and expiry |
| Quote lobby size from a press release | Audit studio coverage against a fixed nine-studio list and sample RTP configurations |
| Show a licence badge | Publish the licence number, the operating company, and say when there is neither |
| List POLi because the template does | Re-test every payment rail monthly and remove the ones that stopped working |
| Use house bylines or stock-photo personas | Name a writer and a separate fact-checker on every page, each with a profile |
| Recommend everything they are paid for | List operators we would not use, ranked where their scores put them |
| Update the year in the title | Re-measure the underlying data monthly and log what changed |
The team
Five editors, each with a declared beat. Every page names its writer and its fact-checker, and both link to a full profile.
Jordan Whitcombe
Editor-in-Chief — Runs the withdrawal-timing programme and signs off every ranking on this site.
Profile →Aroha Tainui
Regulation & Compliance Editor — Writes everything on this site that touches the law, from primary sources only.
Profile →
Priya Raman
Payments & Data Editor — Owns the payments datasets — deposit rails, FX spreads and timed cashouts.
Profile →
Sam Kavanagh
Games & Live Casino Editor — Audits game libraries, RTP configurations and live dealer floors from an NZ IP.
Profile →
Manaia Kerr
Betting Editor — Prices offshore books against TAB NZ every week and reads odds as overrounds.
Profile →Between them: thirteen years in online gambling including six in operator payments, an LLB and a practice of reading primary legislation rather than summaries, ten years in payments analytics, seven years auditing casino game libraries, and eleven years in sports trading. Full biographies and credentials.
How we are funded
Revenue share. When a reader opens an account with an operator through a link on this site, that operator pays us a percentage of its net revenue from that account. There is no display advertising, no subscription and no paid placement.
We think that model is defensible provided two things are true: that it is disclosed plainly, and that it demonstrably does not set the rankings. On the first, there is a disclosure at the top of every page that carries a commercial link. On the second, here is the evidence:
- Our highest-paying partner pays 50% and ranks fourth on the homepage.
- Our top-ranked casino pays 45%.
- We list operators paying 20% and 25% alongside those paying 45–50%.
- We list an operator we explicitly advise readers to be cautious about, at position sixteen, with the reasons stated.
If commission set the order, none of that would be the case. The methodology page sets out the full set of controls, and we will tell you the commission rate for any specific operator if you email and ask.
What we will not do
What we commit to
- Test every operator from a New Zealand IP with our own money
- Publish the scoring weights and every component score
- Publish sample sizes beside every measured figure
- Name a writer and a fact-checker on every page
- List operators we would not personally use, with reasons
- Correct errors quickly and log material corrections on the page
What we refuse
- Accept payment for placement or for a higher position
- Let an operator review a draft before publication
- Remove a negative finding in exchange for commercial terms
- Publish guest posts, sponsored content or paid links
- Describe gambling as a way to make money or solve a financial problem
- Reprint an operator’s claim as though we had verified it
Our record
Corrections policy
We publish numbers, and numbers go stale or turn out to be wrong. When that happens we want to fix it quickly and visibly.
- Email [email protected] with the URL and the problem.
- We aim to acknowledge within two working days and correct within five.
- Material corrections — anything that would change a reader’s decision — are noted on the page itself, not silently edited.
- Every page carries the date it was last updated and the date of its next scheduled review. If the next review date has passed, treat the figures with caution and tell us.
Contact
Editorial and corrections: [email protected]. Operator complaints: [email protected]. Privacy: [email protected]. General: [email protected]. Post: PO Box 106-172, Auckland 1143, New Zealand. Full detail on our contact page.
About us — frequently asked questions
Who owns outofthewoods.co.nz?
outofthewoods.co.nz is published by Casino Edge Media Limited, a New Zealand registered company (NZBN 9429050000000). It is independently owned and is not part of an operator group, a casino network or an operator-owned media business. No gambling operator holds any equity in the company.
How do you make money?
Revenue share from operators when a reader opens an account through one of our links. There is no display advertising and no paid placement. The commercial arrangement is disclosed at the top of every page that contains such a link, and our methodology page sets out the controls that keep it away from the rankings.
Are your reviewers real people?
Yes. Five named editors, each with a declared beat, a published biography and a profile page: our authors. Every content page names the writer and a separate fact-checker. We do not publish under house bylines or invented personas.
Do you accept guest posts or paid links?
No. We do not accept guest contributions, sponsored posts, paid links or link insertions, and we do not respond to outreach offering them. Every page on this site is written by a named member of the editorial team.
Can an operator pay to be listed or removed?
No to both. Listing follows from testing and scoring. An operator that meets the standard is listed at the position its score produces; one that fails a disqualifying test is not listed at any price. We have declined both kinds of request.
How can I contact the editorial team?
Email [email protected] for anything editorial, including corrections. Use [email protected] for operator complaints and our contact page for everything else.
Start with the rankings
Nineteen operators tested, scored and explained, with the component marks published.
Best online casinos NZHow we review