Social media has become an embedded part of many people’s lives.
Not only does social media connect family and friends across the globe, but it has also given rise to the influencer, people who have amassed a large number of followers.
Influencers can be the key to massive amounts of brand exposure, and the “in” to reaching niche audiences.
So it comes as no surprise that businesses are pouring large sums of money into influencer marketing strategies.
We sat down with one of our digital specialists to ask the questions every business should consider before jumping into the influencer pool.
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Q. Let’s start at the beginning: what is influencer marketing?
A. At its most basic, influencer marketing involves working with people that have a significant online following to promote or endorse your product or service.
There can also be a content creation element. For example, you might ask influencers to take photos or videos of a product or write a blog post for use on your website or theirs.
Influencer marketing encompasses a wide range and there are many different ways of using influencers.
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Q. Do you think influencer marketing is worth the time, money and effort associated with it?
A. The answer to that question is that it really depends.
Considerations include:
- Budget
- Campaign goals
- Expectations
- The influencers selected
- Agreements with influencers
- Alignment between your brand and the influencer
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Q. Do you think the influencer marketing landscape is too saturated to be successful?
Why Low Deposit Casinos Are Growing in New Zealand, Per 5DollarDepositCasinos
New Zealand’s online gambling market has undergone a notable structural shift over the past several years, with low deposit casinos — particularly those accepting minimum deposits of five dollars — claiming an increasingly significant share of player activity. This is not a passing trend driven by promotional gimmicks. It reflects deeper changes in how New Zealanders approach recreational spending, how regulatory frameworks have evolved, and how operators have adapted their business models to serve a market with distinct economic and cultural characteristics. Understanding why this segment is expanding requires looking at the intersection of consumer behaviour, financial accessibility, technological infrastructure, and the specific regulatory environment that governs online gambling in New Zealand.
The Regulatory Landscape and Its Role in Market Shaping
New Zealand’s gambling laws create an unusual environment for online casino players. The Gambling Act 2003 remains the foundational piece of legislation governing gambling activities within the country. Under this act, it is illegal for operators to offer online casino services from within New Zealand without a licence — but crucially, the law does not prohibit New Zealand residents from accessing and playing at offshore-licensed casinos. This legal distinction has had profound consequences for the market structure that exists today.
Because domestic operators cannot legally run online casinos targeting New Zealand players, the entire market is served by offshore platforms, most of them licensed in jurisdictions such as Malta (under the Malta Gaming Authority), Gibraltar, Curaçao, Kahnawake, and the Isle of Man. These operators compete aggressively for the New Zealand market without facing the same compliance overhead that a domestically licensed operator would encounter. The result is a highly competitive environment where operators must differentiate on terms that matter to players — and deposit thresholds have emerged as one of the most effective differentiators.
The Department of Internal Affairs, which administers the Gambling Act, has historically focused its enforcement attention on illegal domestic operators rather than pursuing players who access offshore sites. This pragmatic enforcement posture has allowed a mature ecosystem of offshore casinos to develop a genuine relationship with New Zealand players. As that ecosystem matured through the 2010s and into the 2020s, operators began recognising that a meaningful segment of the New Zealand player base was either unwilling or unable to commit to the NZD 20–50 minimum deposits that were standard in the mid-2010s. The five-dollar deposit model emerged as a direct response to this demand signal.
It is also worth noting that the New Zealand government’s 2019 review of the Gambling Act, which examined problem gambling provisions and the role of offshore operators, reinforced rather than disrupted this market dynamic. The review acknowledged the difficulty of restricting access to offshore platforms and instead focused on harm minimisation tools. This regulatory continuity gave operators confidence to invest in the New Zealand market for the long term, including investing in the lower-deposit product tier.
Economic Factors and the Psychology of the NZD 5 Threshold
New Zealand has one of the higher costs of living among OECD nations, and this context matters when analysing gambling behaviour. Auckland consistently ranks among the most expensive cities in the Asia-Pacific region for housing costs, and broader inflationary pressures — particularly acute between 2021 and 2024, when New Zealand’s CPI reached multi-decade highs — have affected discretionary spending patterns across income groups. Against this backdrop, the appeal of a gambling format that limits initial financial exposure is straightforward to understand.
But the five-dollar deposit model is not simply about attracting players who cannot afford more. Research into gambling behaviour consistently shows that low entry points serve multiple psychological functions. For new players, a minimal deposit reduces the perceived risk of trying an unfamiliar platform. For experienced players managing their recreational budget, it provides a disciplined entry mechanism that separates exploration from committed play. For players who have experienced losses and are re-engaging cautiously, it offers a low-stakes re-entry point. These are not the same demographic, but they converge on the same product feature.
The NZD 5 figure is also psychologically meaningful in a way that NZD 10 is not. Five dollars sits below the threshold of what most New Zealanders consider a significant discretionary purchase — it is roughly equivalent to a coffee or a small snack. This framing matters enormously. When a casino’s minimum deposit is positioned at the same cognitive level as an everyday small purchase, the decision to try the platform requires almost no deliberation. Operators understand this, which is why the five-dollar threshold has become a distinct product category rather than simply a variation on standard low-deposit offers.
Research compiled at 5DollarDepositCasinos, a platform that tracks and evaluates casinos accepting this specific deposit tier in the New Zealand market, indicates that the number of operators offering genuine NZD 5 minimum deposits has grown substantially since 2020, with an increasing proportion of those operators also offering bonus structures calibrated to the five-dollar entry point rather than simply applying standard welcome offers with impractical wagering requirements at this deposit level.
This last point is significant. Early iterations of low-deposit casino offers were often misleading — operators would advertise a five-dollar minimum deposit but attach bonus terms that were only achievable with much larger deposits, or they would offer match bonuses that produced such small absolute values at the five-dollar level that they were effectively meaningless. The market has matured past this point. Operators now design bonus structures specifically for the low-deposit segment, including free spins packages, no-deposit bonuses used as acquisition tools, and cashback offers that make sense at low spending levels. This product sophistication is itself a driver of growth, because it means the five-dollar deposit experience is now genuinely competitive with standard deposit offers rather than being a stripped-down version of them.
Technological Enablers: Mobile, Payment Infrastructure, and Software Evolution
The growth of low deposit casinos in New Zealand cannot be fully explained without accounting for the technological changes that have made these products viable at scale. Three developments are particularly important: the maturation of mobile gambling, the evolution of payment processing for small transactions, and improvements in casino software that allow operators to serve small-deposit players profitably.
Mobile gambling adoption in New Zealand accelerated significantly between 2018 and 2023. Smartphone penetration in New Zealand reached approximately 90% of the adult population by 2022, and mobile internet infrastructure — particularly following the rollout of 4G coverage across most of the country and the early deployment of 5G in major urban centres — made mobile casino play a genuinely smooth experience rather than a compromised version of desktop play. This matters for the low-deposit market because mobile devices are the natural platform for casual, low-commitment gambling sessions. A player depositing five dollars is far more likely to be playing on a smartphone during a commute or a lunch break than sitting at a desktop computer. The maturation of mobile casino software — including touch-optimised interfaces, faster load times, and app-based play — has made this use case viable in a way it simply was not in 2015.
Payment processing has also evolved in ways that specifically benefit the low-deposit model. Traditional bank transfers and credit card processing carry fixed costs that make very small transactions economically problematic for operators. The rise of e-wallet services — particularly POLi, which is widely used in New Zealand for direct bank transfers, as well as Skrill, Neteller, and increasingly, cryptocurrency payment options — has reduced transaction costs to the point where processing a five-dollar deposit is economically feasible. POLi in particular has become an important payment method in the New Zealand market because it allows direct bank transfers without requiring a credit card, which aligns well with the financial profile of players who prefer low-deposit gambling. The broader adoption of instant payment infrastructure has also eliminated the delays that once made small deposits impractical — players can now deposit five dollars and begin playing within seconds rather than waiting for a bank transfer to clear.
On the software side, the shift toward HTML5-based casino games has had an underappreciated impact on the low-deposit market. Earlier Flash-based games required more computational resources and had higher minimum bet structures that were often poorly calibrated for very small bankrolls. Modern HTML5 slots and table games are designed with a wider range of betting options, including minimum bets of NZD 0.01 or 0.10 per spin, which means a five-dollar deposit can support a meaningful play session rather than being exhausted in a handful of rounds. Game developers including NetEnt, Microgaming, Play’n GO, and Pragmatic Play have all expanded their portfolios to include games with very low minimum bets, partly in response to the growth of low-deposit markets globally, including New Zealand.
The combination of these three technological factors — mobile maturity, efficient payment processing, and flexible game design — has removed the practical barriers that once prevented low-deposit casinos from delivering a satisfying product. Growth in this segment is therefore not just a marketing phenomenon but a reflection of genuine product improvement.
Responsible Gambling Implications and the Harm Minimisation Argument
Any serious analysis of low deposit casino growth in New Zealand must engage with the responsible gambling dimension. Critics of the low-deposit model sometimes argue that it lowers barriers to gambling in ways that could exacerbate problem gambling. This is a legitimate concern that deserves careful examination rather than dismissal, but the evidence on this point is more nuanced than the criticism suggests.
The Problem Gambling Foundation of New Zealand, along with the Ministry of Health’s national problem gambling service, has consistently identified the severity of losses — not the frequency of small deposits — as the primary driver of gambling harm. Problem gambling is typically characterised by chasing losses with escalating stakes, not by making small, controlled deposits. The five-dollar deposit model, by its nature, imposes a natural ceiling on initial exposure. A player who deposits five dollars and loses it has lost five dollars, not fifty or five hundred. The harm minimisation literature suggests that this kind of natural financial constraint is actually protective rather than harmful, provided operators do not use low entry points as a mechanism to encourage rapid re-deposits.
Responsible operators in the low-deposit space have responded to this concern by implementing deposit limit tools, session time reminders, and cooling-off periods that are accessible at all deposit levels. The New Zealand market has also benefited from the broader international push toward responsible gambling standards, including the GamCare certification process and the adoption of responsible gambling frameworks by major licensing jurisdictions like the Malta Gaming Authority. Operators seeking to serve the New Zealand market credibly have increasingly adopted these standards as a baseline rather than an optional extra.
It is also relevant that the five-dollar deposit model tends to attract a player profile that is, on average, more risk-averse than the high-roller segment. Players who choose a platform specifically because it accepts small deposits are self-selecting into a lower-stakes experience. This does not mean problem gambling is absent in this segment, but it does mean the population of low-deposit players is not disproportionately composed of the high-risk profiles that problem gambling services most frequently encounter.
The New Zealand government’s ongoing consideration of online gambling regulation — including discussions about whether to establish a domestic licensing regime that could bring offshore operators under direct regulatory oversight — will likely shape how the low-deposit segment evolves over the next decade. A domestic licensing framework, if implemented, would probably include responsible gambling requirements that low-deposit operators would need to meet formally rather than voluntarily. Most established operators in this space would be well-positioned to comply, having already adopted international standards. Smaller or less reputable operators might exit the market, which would likely improve the overall quality of the low-deposit offering available to New Zealand players.
The growth of low deposit casinos in New Zealand is ultimately the product of a specific confluence of factors: a regulatory framework that has created an offshore-dominated market, economic conditions that have made financial accessibility a genuine priority for many players, technological developments that have made the low-deposit product genuinely competitive, and a maturing operator ecosystem that has learned to serve this segment with purpose-built products rather than afterthoughts. The trajectory points toward continued growth, with the most significant variables being the potential evolution of New Zealand’s domestic regulatory framework and the ongoing development of payment infrastructure that makes micro-transactions increasingly frictionless. For players, researchers, and policymakers alike, this segment of the market warrants serious attention as a window into how online gambling products adapt to the real economic and behavioural conditions of their users.
A. Yes and no. I think the brands going after influencers with huge followings is certainly oversaturated. There are only so many brand partnerships one influencer can take on without alienating their audience.
However, there is still plenty of opportunity with micro-influencers (under 100,000 followers) and influencers that truly align with a brand.
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Q. What sort of industries do you think would find the most success by trying an influencer marketing strategy?
A. Most companies can use influencer marketing.
Obviously there’s a natural fit for the fashion, makeup and travel industries.
But influencers are underutilised in the B2B space.
Influencer marketing is often defined very narrowly with a large focus on Instagram, but influencers do exist outside of Instagram.
You can find people writing and posting about almost everything under the sun. For instance, say you have a SAAS product. You can almost definitely find someone blogging about marketing, web development, etc who can review and endorse your product.
I encourage B2B or less obvious companies to experiment with influencer marketing, as the opportunity is there.
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Q. Are there any potential risks associated with influencer marketing and can they be mitigated?
A. There are two main risks that you might encounter.
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An influencer posts something that reflects poorly on your brand.
At the end of the day, influencers are independent people, and they might post something inaccurate about your brand, or something that doesn’t convey the message you were hoping for. In very extreme cases, they may also post something offensive or against company values.
To mitigate this, make sure you agree with the influencer that you will be able to pre-approve the post, either manually or with an influencer marketing tool like Tribe.
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An influencer doesn’t fulfil their side of the agreement.
The second risk involves an influencer failing to fulfil their side of the agreement, by not posting as agreed.
Although most people are honest, you have to accept that you can’t have complete control over influencer marketing. Depending on your risk tolerance, you might decide to skip influencer marketing.
You can mitigate this risk by looking through their posts to see how they have handled past brand partnerships.
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Q. What are some of the most common misconceptions about influencer marketing?
A. Some of the most common myths or confusions about influencer marketing include:
- Influencers are only on Instagram. Branch out and look at blogs, Twitter, YouTube and more.
- You can have complete control over the campaign. If you want to have 100% control, don’t work with influencers. The best influencer campaigns are a partnership.
- The more followers the better. Not necessarily, the engagement rate can be more important than sheer numbers. In fact, as the number of followers grows, engagement rate typically drops.
- Influencer marketing is expensive. You can find influencers who are happy to work with you in exchange for products or services.
- You don’t need to allocate any budget for influencer marketing. You can certainly run a low budget campaign, but you’ll have more success if you’re willing to pay influencers for their work.
- You need to make best friends with influencers in order to work with them. I read this advice all the time and it drives me crazy. At the end of the day, it’s a business collaboration. If you’ve done your research and feel that the influencer is a good fit for your brand, reach out and be explicit about what kind of partnership you are hoping for.
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Q. What are some of your top tips for businesses considering jumping into influencer marketing?
A. When it comes to exploring influencer marketing, there are a few things businesses should keep in mind:
- Clearly define your goals. What are you hoping to get out of your campaign?
- Understand that influencer marketing isn’t a guaranteed success. Manage your expectations, especially if this is your first time working with influencers.
- Know your risk tolerance. If you can’t handle ceding some creative control to the influencer, influencers may not be right for you.
- Approach influencer marketing with an open mind. The best partnerships are collaborations and work best when you allow the influencer to have some input as well.
- Pick an influencer that truly aligns with your brand – followers can sense a phony partnership.
- Don’t be seduced by large followings. An influencer with 50,000 followers may have a much stronger relationship with their fans than one with 1 million followers.
Q. What is the best way to go about finding and approaching influencers?
A. There are two main ways to find influencers.
Option 1: the DIY way
This involves searching platforms for users who are posting in your niche, compiling a list of ones you like and reaching out directly to them with your proposal.
On Instagram, this can look like:
Step 1: Use relevant hashtags to find popular posts
Step 2: Make a list of any accounts who post content you like
Sept 3: Now do your due diligence. Go to each profile, read through past posts, see what they are posting about. Make sure that you are happy with what they post and how they communicate.
Step 4: Check their engagement. You want accounts with high engagement and real engagement. Bot comments don’t count.
Step 5: Reach out. Many people will include content details on their profile, and if they do, email is best. Include a quick rundown of what your business does, how the influencer aligns with your brand and a brief outline of what kind of partnership you’re hoping for.
Option 2: using a tool
There are heaps of tools out there that help you connect to influencers.
When looking at influencers, we like to use Tribe. Here’s how it works:
Step 1: Post a brief covering what you are looking for in an influencer
Step 2: Influencers can approach you with their pitch, pricing, and an example of what they would post for you
Step 3: You can communicate with the influencer via Tribe to refine your agreement
Sept 4: The influencer sends you a draft post for approval. You can request changes or approve it
Step 5: When the post goes live your payment will be sent through (so you need to be committed to paying for it!)
Boom! You’ve got yourself an influencer.
Q. What’s the best way to measure influencer marketing outcomes?
A. It can be hard!
If you have an online store, one of the most accurate ways to track success is to give your influencer a discount code that’s unique to them. You can then track the number of times the code was used.
If the influencer is linking directly to your website, provide them with a UTM tracking link, so you can measure any traffic they drive to their site.
Other metrics to look at include engagement, reach and follower growth.
Q. How much should you be budgeting for influencers?
A. Like most things, the answer is that it depends.
If you’re a small, local business, you may find people that will be happy to post in exchange for products or services.
For influencers with a larger following, you should expect to pay, but there is no standardised price.
It all comes down to how much it is worth to you.
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If you’re looking to expand your horizons and venture into the world of influencer marketing, reach out and let’s get your brand seen by the right audience!
