New Zealand introduces racing amendment bill

The bill introduced by the Minister for Racing is set to modernise racing and sports betting in the country.

New Zealand.- David Bennett, the newly appointed Racing Minister, introduced on Wednesday the Racing Amendment Bill into Parliament. The bill would amend the 2003 Racing Act in order to boost the domestic betting monopoly and compete with international online operators.

“These changes make it possible to get a return for the information received from betting on New Zealand events and also bets placed by New Zealanders,” said Bennett. The bill’s intention is to return money into the country through information and consumption charged from offshore betting operators, as local news outlet Scoop reported. “The Racing Amendment Bill will also enable in-race betting, bringing it into line with in-play betting for sports and will allow the New Zealand Racing Board to offer betting on a wider range of sports,” said the official.

Bennett also thanked the Offshore Racing and Sports Betting Working Group for submitting proposals to amend the Act. “I welcome this advancement in collection of betting charges that can be used to assist the racing industry and other sports bodies are these bets,” he said.

Back in March, the Racing Act added a new amendment, in which it was established that the government of New Zealand would be able to charge offshore casino and betting operators, as well as collect 2 percent of the iGaming revenue held in foreign platforms.