Class 4 Gambling Venues in NZ: How Pokies Are Regulated
A Class 4 gambling venue is a DIA-licensed pub, club, or similar site hosting between 1 and 18 pokies machine under the Gambling Act 2003. Roughly 1,100 Class 4 venues operate across New Zealand, making them the most numerous category of land-based gambling venue in the country. This page explains who licenses Class 4 venues, what machine and stake limits apply, how community-grant funding flows from pokies machine back to local groups, and what player-protection rules every licensed venue must follow.
What is a Class 4 gambling venue?
A Class 4 gambling venue is any DIA-licensed site authorised to run non-casino pokies machine under section 65 of the Gambling Act 2003. The “Class 4” label refers to the licence class, not a venue type. The Act assigns Class 4 status to pokies machine outside casinos, and the venue is the pub or club that hosts them.
Typical Class 4 venues are pubs, sports clubs including Returned and Services Associations (RSAs) and Cosmopolitan Clubs, working-men’s clubs, and some restaurants that meet the liquor-and-gaming licensing standards set by the DIA. Every Class 4 venue runs a gaming room that’s physically separated from dining and general bar areas and is signed as a gambling area. The gaming-machine licences are typically held by a licensed gaming-machine society, a charitable trust that owns and services the machines, with the venue operating under a venue licence held jointly with the trust.
Class 4 is distinct from Class 3, which is the casino licence class. Class 3 authorises a full casino with table games and uncapped-stake pokies. Class 4 restricts the venue to pokies machine only, at a $2.50 maximum stake per spin. The two classes can’t be mixed at the same venue. A pokies pub can’t add a roulette table, and a Class 3 casino doesn’t hold Class 4 licences for its pokies. See casino vs pokies for the full attribute comparison.
How many pokies machine can a Class 4 venue have?
A Class 4 venue can run between 1 and 18 pokies machine. The 18-machine cap is set by the Gambling Act 2003 and is strictly enforced by the DIA. No Class 4 venue is permitted to install a nineteenth machine, and councils can’t approve a local cap above 18.
The 18-machine cap was introduced to keep Class 4 gambling at a scale below casino-floor operations. Most Class 4 venues sit well below the cap. The median Class 4 venue runs between 9 and 15 machines, reflecting the pub-and-club commercial model and the community-grants return obligation on every machine. Licensed gaming-machine societies allocate machines across venues under agreements that are in turn approved by the DIA.
Local territorial authorities (city and district councils) set secondary caps below the 18-machine national cap in specific sinking-lid or cap policies. A council can decline new licences in its area, freeze the current count, or require reduction over time. Auckland Council, Christchurch City Council, and Wellington City Council all run some form of local cap alongside the national 18-machine ceiling. The DIA register at dia.govt.nz/Gambling-Class-4 records the active machine count at every venue.
What is the maximum stake at a Class 4 venue?
The maximum stake at a Class 4 venue is $2.50 per spin. This cap is set in the DIA’s Class 4 gaming-machine technical standards, which sit under the Gambling Act 2003, and is non-negotiable for every Class 4 machine in New Zealand.
The $2.50 cap is substantially lower than Class 3 casino pokies, which carry no statutory per-spin stake cap. The Ministry of Health cites the stake cap as a core harm-minimisation feature of the Class 4 regime. A low per-spin stake limits the maximum loss rate on any machine and therefore the maximum hourly loss for a player. High-denomination $5 and $10 machines common in Australian pub gaming don’t exist in New Zealand.
The cap applies to every Class 4 machine regardless of which gaming-machine society operates it. Machine software is certified by the DIA and can’t be modified in the field, so the $2.50 cap is a hardware-and-software guarantee rather than a venue-level rule. If any player encounters a Class 4 machine accepting more than $2.50 per spin, the venue is operating in breach of licence and should be reported to the DIA on 0800 257 887.
Who licenses Class 4 venues?
The Department of Internal Affairs licenses Class 4 venues and the gaming-machine societies that run machines within them. The DIA is the statutory licensing authority for all non-casino gambling in New Zealand under the Gambling Act 2003, and its Gambling Compliance team runs the Class 4 licensing regime.
A Class 4 licence application involves both the venue operator (the pub or club) and the licensed gaming-machine society that will own and service the machines. The DIA assesses both parties against licensing criteria covering financial probity, operator history, host-responsibility readiness, and site suitability. Local territorial authority consent is separately required. A council can decline a Class 4 venue in its area under the Gambling Act’s “relevant territorial authority” provisions.
The Gambling Commission is a separate body that hears licensing appeals against DIA decisions. The Gambling Commission isn’t the primary regulator (that role sits entirely with the DIA), but it provides an appeal layer for operators contesting a DIA decision. For the full regulatory framework including the DIA’s role and the 2026 Online Casino Gambling Act changes, see New Zealand gambling law.
How does Class 4 funding return to the community?
Around 40% of gross Class 4 gaming-machine proceeds must be returned to the community as grants, administered by the licensed gaming-machine society that runs the machines. The Gambling Act 2003 requires this public-benefit return and sets the minimum grant percentage in regulation.
Grants typically fund sport, arts, health, emergency services, youth development, and community facility projects. Licensed gaming-machine societies (including Lion Foundation, Pub Charity, The Trusts Community Foundation, New Zealand Community Trust, Youthtown Inc, Mainland Foundation, First Light Community Trust, and several others) administer applications, award grants, and report to the DIA on distribution. Each society publishes its annual grants register.
The community-grants model is a defining feature of New Zealand’s Class 4 regime. Australian pub-pokies regimes and UK betting-shop regimes don’t carry a comparable mandatory public-benefit return, and the 40% floor is intentionally set to keep a substantial share of gambling losses flowing back to the community of the gambler. The Gambling Act requires the DIA to audit the grants flow and to publish annual statistics on total grants distributed nationally.
What player-protection rules apply at Class 4 venues?
Every Class 4 venue is required to display Gambling Helpline NZ signage (0800 654 655) inside the gaming room, provide host-responsibility-trained staff during gaming hours, offer single-venue self-exclusion on request, prohibit ATMs on the gaming floor, and install continuous-play reminders on pokies machine. Those rules are set in the DIA’s host-responsibility regulations and apply uniformly across every Class 4 venue in New Zealand.
Host responsibility is the legal duty of the venue operator to reduce gambling harm. It requires staff to be trained to identify problem-gambling behaviours, to intervene where appropriate, to offer self-exclusion, and to ensure underage patrons don’t enter the gaming room. The 18-year minimum age at Class 4 venues is higher than the 18-year minimum for pub entry only in that the gaming room is a separately signed space. The Ministry of Health funds host-responsibility training across the Class 4 sector.
Additional player-protection requirements include a minimum gaming-machine return-to-player percentage (published on each machine), visible clocks and lighting that allow patrons to track time, prohibitions on cashing cheques to extend play, and restrictions on marketing-material placement. Every Class 4 venue is subject to DIA audit at any time, and breach findings can trigger licence suspension or revocation. For a broader responsible-gambling picture including counselling services, see the responsible gambling page.
How do I find a Class 4 venue near me?
The DIA register at dia.govt.nz/Gambling-Class-4 is the authoritative national index of every licensed Class 4 venue in New Zealand, searchable by suburb, venue name, or licensed operator. The register is updated quarterly and lists each venue with its exact address, licence number, active machine count, and operating gaming-machine society.
For city-level lookup, use the pokies near me national index or the individual city directory pages. Each city directory page lists Class 4 venues by suburb and links back to the DIA register for the authoritative venue count. Suburb-level pages exist for the highest-volume pokies-search suburbs.
How does Class 4 differ from Class 3 (casino) gambling?
Class 3 is the casino licence and Class 4 is the pub-and-club licence. The two classes differ in every major attribute: the number of licensed venues (6 Class 3 versus ~1,100 Class 4), the games permitted (tables plus pokies versus pokies only), the per-spin stake cap (no cap versus $2.50), the minimum entry age (20 versus 18), and the community-grants obligation (no mandatory return versus ~40% of gross proceeds).
Both licence classes are governed by the Gambling Act 2003 and regulated by the DIA. Both require host-responsibility programmes and Gambling Helpline NZ signage. Both are subject to the same self-exclusion framework, adapted for the two-scale venue difference. Casinos run a national multi-venue exclusion scheme enforceable at all six casinos, while Class 4 venues operate single-venue exclusion. See casino vs pokies for the full attribute-by-attribute comparison.
Return to New Zealand gambling law or Casinos in New Zealand.