Rangiora man pleads guilty to running NZ’s largest $11m illegal lottery

Friday, 23 January 2026

Waiariki McIlroy-Jones, owner-operator of Jonez LRC, outside the Christchurch District Court at a previous appearance.

A Rangiora man has admitted he was running New Zealand’s biggest illegal lottery, which generated $11m in little over a year, after denying he did nothing wrong.

Waiariki McIlroy-Jones personally and on behalf of his company, Jones LRC, pleaded guilty to four illegal gambling offences at the Christchurch District Court on Friday.

The young man previously claimed his operation was legitimate, and was scheduled to defend accusations from the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) at trial in February.

But on Friday, the DIA withdrew and amended some of its charges, and Jones admitted he had conducted illegal gambling and benefited from it.

Judge Michael Crosbie set a sentencing date of May 29.

The DIA began investigating McIlroy-Jones’ company after receiving “a number of complaints” about its “giveaways”.

Earlier that year, he had started holding lotteries for vehicles and cash. It was positioned as a lawful sales promotion - as giveaway entries were only sold in conjunction with online downloadable posters.

McIlroy-Jones promoted the lotteries on social media and his operation boomed. In March 2023, it was announced his company had given away $1m in prizes, the summary said.

The lottery transitioned from selling “posters” to “short-term discount packages” that would be applicable at select stores. But after purchasing a package, there was no mention of the discounts - just information about the “live draw”.

“The lottery grew significantly to the point where one of the final prizes on offer was a freehold house or a $700,000 cash prize.” More than 287,000 lottery entries were purchased by 69,500 unique customers over about 12 months.

The DIA was able to prove McIlroy-Jones’ lottery was illegitimate through its online conduct, and partially through its pricing structure.

Waiariki McIlroy-Jones was previously prepared to defend his innocence at trial.

Customers were encouraged to buy more expensive online packages, which included more entries. However, this increased the price per poster - which made no sense if posters were the main attraction.

While the lottery was selling posters, from June 2022 to April 2023, it generated $3.3m revenue. About $1.9m of that was spent on the prizes, and $500,000 on other expenses, including $200,000 of advertising.

From April 2023 to July 2023, while selling discount packages, around $7.8m of revenue was generated, with $4.5m spent on prizes and $600,000 on other expenses.

In a statement on Friday, Vicki Scott said the operation’s more than $11m total revenue made it “the largest illegal lottery ever identified in New Zealand”.

She said McIlroy-Jones had personally benefited from the giveaways, which included prizes such as high-value cars, boats, caravans, cash and the freehold house on offer.

Money and assets associated with the offending were now subject to a High Court restraining order and forfeiture would be sought, Scott said.

“This successful prosecution should serve as a stark warning to anyone involved in running an illegal lottery of any scale that they can expect to find themselves the focus of our investigators.

“It clearly signals our lack of tolerance for anyone who tries to evade the strict controls in the Gambling Act.”

Discussing McIlroy-Jones’ sentencing on Friday, defence lawyer Katherine Basire told the court there were “a number of mitigating factors” relevant to her client.

“I can imagine the DIA will be making extensive submissions, as will I.”