About the thetandoor.co.nz Review Desk

Five contributors, one shared rule: nothing gets ranked until somebody has been paid out.

Founded2026 ReviewersFive Operators judged200+ BasedAuckland

01

Ewan Marchbank, lead casino reviewer

Ewan founded the desk and writes the ranking you see on the home page. He spends most of a working week inside cashier pages, timing payouts and reading terms updates line by line. Every operator we cover gets a funded account in his name before a single word is written about it.

02

Marika Sellwood, live dealer specialist

Marika judges a studio after nine at night, when tables fill and streams start to strain. She scores dealer rosters against New Zealand evening hours, checks side bet returns and refuses to rate a live floor she has only watched during European daytime traffic.

03

Hugo Trelawney, payments and compliance

Hugo verifies every licence number against the regulator register himself and matches the company on that register against the company named in the terms. A mismatch ends a review on the spot, whatever the rest of the site looks like.

04

Erin Callaghan, pokies and game maths

Erin catalogues configured return figures rather than advertised ones, because studios ship the same title at several settings. She built the volatility and payout tables on the home page and re-checks them whenever a supplier updates a release.

05

Blair Hardacre, responsible play

Blair reviews the limit tools, cooling off periods and self-exclusion routes at every operator we list. If deposit caps sit more than two clicks from the account menu, the site loses points before anything else is scored.

06

How the desk is funded and how we disagree

Placement is never sold. Affiliate arrangements exist, they are disclosed here, and they carry no weight in the order. Where two reviewers reach opposite conclusions, the tie is broken by whichever position a third funded test supports.