New Zealand's Best Free Online Pokies: Play them at these Great Casinos

There are thousands of pokies, or slots, you can play online right now. New Zealanders have easy access to loads of the best and most popular pokies around today. What’s great about these games is that they’re so diverse. Not only do they come in an endless range of themes, they also have lots of exciting and creative gameplay features that make them more engaging. Plus, you don’t have to pay to play; if it’s free online pokies you’re after, the choice is practically endless. Pokies are some of the most entertaining, immersive and thrilling online casino games you can play. They’re the most popular type of casino game by far and when you start playing them, you’ll soon see why. To give you an idea of what pokies have to offer, we’ve listed some of the five biggest ones that you can play at New Zealand online casinos. The table below offers a brief summary of each pokie, with more detailed descriptions following on.

Top 5 Free Online Pokies In NZ

*When playing Energoonz, you win by landing three or more matching symbols on a horizontal or vertical row.

Gonzo’s Quest

Developed by NetEnt, Gonzo’s Quest is an Aztec-themed pokie themed to an explorer who’s in search of the city of gold, El Dorado. There are 20 paylines you can win on and thanks to the ava-lanche feature, whenever you win all winning symbols vanish and are replaced by symbols dropping down from above. This gives you the chance to win more than once from a single spin. Other fea-tures include a free spins round and multipliers for landing consecutive wins.

Energoonz

This quirky pokie from Play’n Go features a host of wacky alien creatures and is themed to energy production. Played on a 5x5 grid, the pokie has all winning symbols disappear after a spin - earn multipliers on consecutive wins to boost your payouts. There’s also a high-paying wild symbol and a free spins round.

Wolf Gold

Themed to wolves and the North American wilderness, Wolf Gold is a hugely popular pokie from Pragmatic Play. It has a free spins round that has extra large 3x3 symbols appearing on the middle three reels and a special bonus round where you can win cash prizes and up to three jackpot prizes.

Gem Rocks

Created by the provider Yggdrasil, Gem Rocks is a visually impressive pokie with a mining theme. It’s set in a world where fearful creatures made of rock live. The pokie’s played on a six-reel, four-row grid and has a huge 4,096 ways to win. Land enough consecutive wins and massive rock monsters will land - these are made up of identical symbols and can boost your chances of winning.

Immortal Romance

This vampire-themed pokie is from Microgaming, which is one of the online gambling industry’s lead-ing software providers. It has four main characters and each one of these has their own free spins round. Every round gives you a different number of spins and special bonus, which can include multipliers and wilds.

Reviews of Our Top 5 Slot Casinos

If you’re based in New Zealand and want to play some top-rated pokies for free, there are plenty of casinos to choose from. We’ve done the research and come up with a list of five sites where you can play pokies as much as you want without having to pay a cent. The majority of online casinos offer demo play. This is a special mode where you can play slots using virtual money. You’re able to try out pokies and other games without your casino account balance being affected at all. The main ad-vantage of free play is that it gives you the chance to practice playing and get used to how a game works. Even though pokies are luck-based games, some of them do have lots of features going on, so it’s always helpful to have a few free turns before you start playing with real money. So, if you want to play lots of thrilling, entertaining pokies without spending any actual money, you’ve come to the right place. We’ve listed five of the very best online casinos offering free play in the table below. Keep on reading for more detailed overviews of what these sites have to offer.

Casumo

This is an online casino that’s modern, user friendly and player-focused. It’s also won a number of impressive industry awards since launching in 2012. With Casumo, you get a different kind of online gambling experience. Here, gamification is used to make the casino stand out from others. As you spend real money on the casino’s many games (there are well over a thousand of them), you collect points that earn you trophies and valuables, including free cash and free spins. The more play, the more rewards you’ll qualify for and the more of the casino’s worlds you’ll get to explore. There are many different levels and planets waiting to be unlocked and you’re encouraged to play and visit them all. Of course, Casumo offers free play too, so you can try out the casino’s many pokies - slots and other games without having to pay. Should you settle for this casino, you’ll receive some bonus money and free spins on the popular Book of Dead pokie when you make your very first deposit.

Playzee Casino

If you’re after an online casino that’s wacky and fun, Playzee Casino is strongly recommended. It’s themed to an enthusiastic scientist, Zeegmund, who’s running all sorts of experiments to create the best casino games possible. It has a lot to offer, with more than 1,000 games waiting to be played, customer support available every hour of the day and a huge welcome bonus that offers lots of bo-nus money and free spins. There’s a rewarding loyalty scheme with four levels (plus a fifth for VIPs) and special offers that you can claim every single day of the week. The casino’s collection of pokies is extensive, though there are enough sorting options that you should be able to find the games you’re after easily enough. What makes Playzee Casino a top choice for free pokies in New Zealand is that it’s well designed, has loads of games, offers generous lots of bonuses and has an interesting theme. It’s definitely one of the more unique options.

LeoVegas Casino

Another huge online casino worth checking out is LeoVegas Casino. It offers close to 1,800 pokies, so if you’re keen to play pokies, or slots, for free you’ll be spoiled for choice here. There are also plenty of other casino games for you to try out, from interactive live dealer games and classic table and card games, to video poker and progressive jackpots. There’s also a full sportsbook where you can place bets on all sorts of sporting events from around the world. If you want to play on your smartphone or tablet, you can visit the mobile casino through your device’s web browser or down-load the award-winning LeoVegas Casino app. Developed for Android and iOS devices, the app of-fers a smooth and user friendly mobile gambling experience that’s impressed many players thanks to its line-up of games and design. There are plenty of bonuses to be claimed. Sign up and choose from three welcome bonuses: there’s one for casino games, one for live dealer games and one for sports betting.

Dunder Casino

Sleek and well presented, Dunder Casino is an impressive online casino that doesn’t just look great, it’s also got a lot to offer. There are more than 2,200 games from many of the biggest and most pop-ular providers around - of course, there are loads of pokies to choose from and you can try them out for free once you’ve signed up. The casino was set up in 2016 by two Swedish gambling enthusiasts and is designed with today’s online gambler in mind. It’s a modern, well designed site that uses lots of high-quality images throughout and is very easy to navigate. It’s fully licensed, offers a reliable customer support service and accepts lots of payment methods, with very fast processing times for withdrawals. Register your account to receive 20 free spins, then across your first three deposits you’ll qualify for a further 180 free spins and several hundred dollars of bonus money to spend on some of the casino’s many games.

Dream Vegas Casino

Inspired by the glitz and glamour of Las Vegas, Dream Vegas Casino wants everyone who signs up to enjoy the same sort of gambling experience they’d get from Sin City itself. Visit this online casino and as you make your way round the site, you’ll see high-quality images of many of Vegas’ famous casino resorts. There are more than a thousand games lined up and waiting for you to play, including online versions of Vegas-style slot machines. The games are supplied by over a hundred providers, so there’s certainly more than enough variety to satisfy everyone’s tastes. The casino offers just about every type of game there is, from pokies and live dealer games, to table and card games, vid-eo poker, scratchcards and even virtual sports. Should you decide to become a member, you’ll be rewarded for doing so with bonuses for your first three deposits - receive bonus money and free spins to use on any NetEnt pokie. The casino also has a VIP scheme with four levels, the last one of which is set aside for the top players only. All of the online casinos that have made it onto our list tick plenty of boxes. Most importantly of all, they’re safe, secure and licensed. As a rule of thumb, you should only ever sign up to an online casi-no that has a licence, as this is a sign the casino’s been checked over by a regulatory authority and has been given the approval to operate. In New Zealand, for an online casino to legally operate it needs to have a licence and be located in a different country.

How We Rate Online Pokie Sites

Online casinos vary greatly in how they’re presented and what they have to offer - no two are the same. New Zealanders have access to many online casinos, including some of the biggest and most highly rated ones around. When there’s so many to choose from, how do we whittle down the list to come up with the best ones to sign up to? What all industry experts in New Zealand do is to review a diverse range of pokie sites taking into account all sorts of different factors, including the following:

Game Collection

Ideally, an online casino should have a large and diverse line-up of games for players to enjoy. Most casinos have several hundred games to offer, while some even have over a thousand. As well as pokies, it’s good for a casino to have other types of game available to play, such as table and card games (blackjack, baccarat, roulette and poker), live dealer games, video poker and even others such as scratchcards, bingo, keno and arcade-style games. Some casinos offer sports betting and virtual sports as well. There are over three hundred providers that create games for online casinos. Having games by lots of different providers means that the collection is more varied and diverse, which goes down well with players. Some casinos offer games by just a few providers or around a dozen, while others have games supplied by several dozen or even close to a hundred providers. So, what we want to see in a casino is a game collection that’s large and varied enough that it’s got something for everyone. The more games there are, the better; it also helps if they come from a good mix of providers, including the most popular ones and some of the up-and-coming ones. Casi-nos should offer free play once you’ve registered an account (note that free play isn’t available for live dealer games). They should also organise their collection in such a way that finding games to play is quick and easy.

Free Pokies and Games Available

Not everyone wants to play pokies and other games with real money. Thankfully, most trustworthy online casinos in New Zealand let you play for free. Demo mode is offered nearly everywhere. What this does is it lets you play using virtual money - there’s no real money involved at all. So, you can try out pokies, table and card games and other games as much as you like whenever you like without having to pay. The only games you can’t play for free are live dealer games. At most online casinos, you should be able to play for free once you’ve got your account set up. Simply complete the registration form and once your account’s created you can play in demo mode. There’s no deposit required, only registration.

Welcome Bonus

The welcome bonus is a special bonus for new players only. Most online casinos offer you some bonus money or free spins (or both) when making your very first real-money deposit. Some even have bonuses available to claim for several deposits after your first. The size of the bonuses can vary greatly, since some casinos are more generous than others.

Promotions

To keep players who have signed up coming back, online casinos typically have a number of promo-tions running at any given time. Some of them are only available for a limited time - they may be seasonal, for example - whereas others can be claimed every day or week. The rewards you can receive from promotional offers include bonus money, free spins, cashback and entries for cash giveaways.

Loyalty Scheme and VIP

Lots of online casinos like to reward player loyalty. The main way they do this is by offering a loyalty scheme. You earn points by playing casino games with real money and the more you play, the more points you earn. A loyalty scheme has a number of levels. You start off at the lowest one and work your way up by earning points, with each level offering better bonuses and benefits than the one before it. VIP clubs are invite-only and are reserved for a casino’s most dedicated players. Become a VIP and you can look forward to enjoying the casino’s very best bonuses, perks and rewards. These include access to an account manager, invitations to real-life events and higher deposit and withdrawal limits.

Customer Support

Online casinos have a customer support team you can contact if anything goes wrong or if you have a question about something. Usually, there are a few ways of getting in touch - these can include a live chat feature, an email address and a phone line. Some casinos offer customer support 24/7 so you can speak to a team member at any time to have your issue resolved. At others, it’s available during limited hours only, e.g. 8am to midnight.

Site Design

In terms of a casino’s design, there are two things that matter: the theme and the layout. Some casi-nos have a generic gambling theme, while others are specially designed to match a specific theme. As for the layout, it should be straightforward and tidy, with a minimal amount of clutter getting in the way. Having a simple layout means that players, especially new ones, are able to find everything a lot more easily.

Mobile Compatibility

These days, pretty much every online casino has a mobile friendly site that offers most of the same games. Some of them also offer an app that you can download. Apps are usually compatible with iOS and Android devices only and are able to download from the App Store or Google Play respectively. Mobile sites should be easy to navigate and fully responsive whether you’re playing on a smartphone or on a tablet.

Payment Methods

Most online casinos let you use a number of different payment methods for making deposits and withdrawals. Nearly all of them accept Visa and Mastercard, while many also accept e-wallets (Neteller, Skrill and PayPal), prepaid cards (Paysafecard), cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin) and bank trans-fers. The list of options should include at least one that you’re currently using. Bear in mind that not all payment methods can be used for both deposits and withdrawals. If your chosen option can’t be used for withdrawals, you’ll have to use another payment method (usually bank transfer) to get your winnings paid to you.

Withdrawal Times

Deposits are nearly always instant, though withdrawals can take a short while to reach you. There are two factors that affect how long it takes your money to reach you. These are the payment meth-od you’re using and the casino’s processing time. If you’re going to sign up to an online casino, it’s a good idea to check what the processing time is first; ideally, it should be less than one working day.

Safety and Security

It goes without saying that any online casino you register at should be safe and secure. Thankfully, the vast majority of gambling sites are perfectly reliable and can be trusted. However, you should always be cautious just in case. Always sign up to licensed casinos only and if a casino’s got a bad reputation, rethink whether you’re going to sign up there. All of the ones we recommend are safe and trustworthy.

Current Legal Situation

The laws to do with online gambling differ from country to country. In New Zealand, you can legally gamble online, so long as the site you’re at isn’t actually based in the country itself. So, providing the casino’s based overseas, you can sign up and gamble without breaking any laws. If you’re lucky enough to win, the good news is that your winnings aren’t taxed; they’re entirely yours to keep. This is because the New Zealand government considers gambling winnings to have been earned through luck, not work. The Gambling Commission regulates various forms of gambling in New Zealand. It’s part of the De-partment of Internal Affairs and was set up under the Gambling Act 2003. Its aim is to oversee the gambling that takes place within the country itself. It ensures that those who decide to gamble can do so safely. Along with online casinos, the commission covers gambling at New Zealand’s six land-based casinos. These offer a range of slot machines, table and card games and other games of chance.

Conclusion

Online pokies are simple, yet lots of fun. These casino games, also known as slots, are the back-bone of the online gambling industry, since they’re the most popular type of game by far. If you want to try out some pokies yourself, there are lots of highly rated New Zealand online casinos where you can do so for free. Simply visit one of the recommended casinos on this page, complete the registra-tion process and start playing free pokies! Play as many pokies as you like without spending any money and have a great time trying out these top casino games. There are so many pokies out there you won’t know where to begin!