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A Kiwi classic, cloned across the globe.
New Zealand’s state-run lottery operator, Lotto NZ, is in an awkward position. Its flagship game, Lotto Powerball, has found itself mirrored halfway across the world, by a Malta-based gambling business with no ties to the country.
And there’s not much Lotto NZ can do about it.
A familiar game, just not at home
Enter TheLotter, a Malta-headquartered gambling platform offering a game called “NZPowerLuck”. For international players, it’s Powerball in all but name: same draw days, same prize setup, same number combos.
One Russian player even took home NZD226,101 (USD137,000) from a winning ticket purchased via the site. None of it went through Lotto NZ.
Despite the resemblance, the product isn’t illegal, at least not in the jurisdictions where TheLotter operates. Which is why Lotto NZ, despite its protests, is largely powerless to intervene.
A loophole the size of an ocean
This isn’t a one-off. TheLotter has carved out a niche offering access to more than 45 national lotteries. It either resells real tickets or creates digital derivatives that mirror official draws, without actually breaching the letter of most laws.
New Zealand law forbids lottery ticket sales to non-residents. But if a player from Russia, Canada, or Dubai buys into a game that copies Powerball rather than using the official infrastructure? That’s a different story.
Lotto NZ’s terms and conditions state that tickets resold or bought abroad are invalid. But in cases like NZPowerLuck, no tickets are actually issued by Lotto NZ at all. The platform runs in parallel, outside New Zealand’s regulatory reach.
Malta’s iGaming engine
Malta has long been the Silicon Valley of online gambling. The iGaming sector accounts for 16% of the island’s GDP, with over 24,000 people employed in gaming-related roles. The country’s legal framework, designed to welcome and regulate online operators, has helped it become a magnet for companies like TheLotter.
And while New Zealand has tried blocking foreign purchases and flagging international operators to the Department of Internal Affairs, these platforms continue to find ways to operate in the grey.
Geo-blocking of New Zealand IPs, licensing under friendly jurisdictions, and legal firewalls all make it near-impossible for Lotto NZ to stop international users from playing knockoff versions of its games.
This isn’t new, but it’s getting harder to manage
Lotto NZ has dealt with syndicates and third-party sellers before. In one recent case, it successfully blocked another overseas group from entering the Powerball draw.
But the lines are getting blurrier.
Syndicates now replicate draw mechanics without involving the original operator at all. That shifts the problem from illegal resale to brand imitation, and enforcement becomes murkier.
The question isn’t whether it’s unfair, it is. It’s whether there’s any realistic way to stop it.
Why it matters to operators
For national lotteries like Lotto NZ, these copycat platforms are more than a nuisance. They dilute brand integrity, create consumer confusion, and bypass local compliance requirements, all while profiting off years of trust and recognition built by state-backed games.
More importantly, they erode the social contract that comes with state lotteries: profits funding public services, education, health. When international clones swoop in and carve out a slice, that money leaves the ecosystem entirely.
And without meaningful international enforcement mechanisms, this problem won’t go away anytime soon.
Lotto NZ knows it. Regulators know it. So do the syndicates.
The only question is: who will move first, and how fast?
Source: Asia Gaming Brief
