{"id":777021999,"date":"2025-01-14T09:56:03","date_gmt":"2025-01-14T12:56:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777021999"},"modified":"2026-04-22T02:43:57","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T05:43:57","slug":"under-18s-to-be-restricted-from-buying-lotto-tickets-in-new-zealand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/under-18s-to-be-restricted-from-buying-lotto-tickets-in-new-zealand","title":{"rendered":"Under-18s to be restricted from buying lotto tickets in New Zealand"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The legislation will be introduced to Parliament later this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">New Zealand.- The New Zealand government plans to introduce amendments to the Gambling Act 2003 which would <strong>prohibit the sale of lotto tickets<\/strong> to people aged under 18. Retailers caught selling Lotto products to minors will face fines of up to NZ$1,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This proposal has been reported by the local media outlet 1News, and it is anticipated that the bill will be discussed in Parliament later this year. Currently, the Instant Kiwi product is the only Lotto NZ offering that is restricted to under-18-year-olds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Home Affairs Minister <strong>Brooke van Velden<\/strong> has described the change as &#8220;a really simple&#8221; legislative adjustment that will ensure uniform age restrictions across all Lotto products and clarify them to retailers and consumers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lotto NZ has expressed support for the move, with <strong>Will Hin<\/strong>, head of corporate communications, saying that the measure will contribute to the organisation&#8217;s commitment to minimise gambling harm-related issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed aligncenter is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"&#039;Long overdue&#039; changes around who can buy Lotto tickets\" width=\"625\" height=\"352\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/rpHbOaRQZrY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Source: 1News<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">New Zealand government to ban greyhound racing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Last December, the government&nbsp;announced that it would pass under urgency the&nbsp;<strong>Racing Industry (Unlawful Destruction of Specified Greyhounds) Amendment Bill<\/strong>&nbsp;to ban greyhound racing in the country on the grounds of animal welfare. A transition period of 20 months would be given to allow time to find homes for racing dogs and help those involved in the industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Deputy Prime Minister and Racing Minister\u00a0<strong>Winston Peters<\/strong>\u00a0said\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/new-zealand-greyhound-racing-safe-renews-call-for-ban\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the injury rate among racing dogs remains too high<\/a>\u00a0and that \u201cthe time has come to make a call in the best interest of the animals&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe acknowledge the work done by Greyhound Racing New Zealand to improve safety.&nbsp;While fewer dogs are dying, injury rates, while down slightly, have plateaued and remain unacceptably high,\u201d Peters said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He added: \u201cFurther legislation to enable the end to greyhound racing is required. A bill to make the necessary changes to the Racing Industry Act 2020 will be introduced to Parliament in 2025. There will be a full select committee process so everyone will have a chance to have their say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cA key task will be the rehoming of the estimated 2,900 racing greyhounds in New Zealand.&nbsp;An Advisory Committee has been appointed to help manage the transition process. The Committee members are Heather Simpson (Chair), Murray Johnson and Lindsay Burton. They will provide advice on ensuring animal welfare, and support for those involved in the industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cKeeping unwanted dogs safe is a priority. The Government is working with animal welfare organisations to establish programmes to support rehoming.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>See also:<\/strong> <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/new-zealand-online-casino-bill-to-be-presented-next-year\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">New Zealand online casino bill to be presented next year<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The legislation will be introduced to Parliament later this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":13190,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"The New Zealand government is set to amend the Gambling Act 2003, prohibiting the sale of all Lotto products to individuals under 18, with retailers facing fines for non-compliance. Concurrently, the government plans to ban greyhound racing by 2025 due to animal welfare concerns, establishing a transition committee for rehoming and industry support. These legislative actions underscore a tightening regulatory environment across various gaming verticals.","focusai_entities":"New Zealand government, Lotto NZ, 1News, Brooke van Velden, Will Hin, Winston Peters, Greyhound Racing New Zealand, Heather Simpson, Murray Johnson, Lindsay Burton","focusai_location":"New Zealand","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (1.0), operator_casino (0.8), product_ux (0.7), tech_data (0.7), marketing_crm (0.7), investor_analyst (0.9), gambler_consumer (0.7), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Lotto Age Impact","query":"What is the projected financial impact on Lotto NZ's GGR and NGR from the uniform age restriction, and what operational adjustments are required for retail and digital distribution channels?"},{"label":"Regulatory Precedent","query":"How might the precedent set by the greyhound racing ban, driven by animal welfare, influence future regulatory scrutiny or potential prohibitions across other gaming verticals in New Zealand or comparable jurisdictions?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16336,154,158],"tags":[23911,3573],"class_list":["post-777021999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australasia-news","category-legislation-news","category-slider-home","tag-gambling-regulation","tag-lottery"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777021999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777021999"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777021999\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777022005,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777021999\/revisions\/777022005"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777021999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777021999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777021999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}