Racing Minister David Bennett has introduced the Racing Amerndment Bill to Parliament.

The bill would amend the Racing Act 2003 to modernise the law in light of developments in offshore betting and gambling. It seeks to improve the competitiveness of the New Zealand Racing Board's betting operations.

The bill would also require offshore betting operators to pay to use New Zealand racing and sporting information in their betting products and to pay when they take bets on racing or sporting events where those bets originate in New Zealand.

It would allow the making of regulations to revise the formula that is used for allocating proceeds from sports betting between the racing and sports sectors.

The proposals in the bill stem from a review undertaken by the Offshore Racing and Sports Betting Working Group in 2015.

The Board is the sole legally authorised provider of racing and sports betting in New Zealand.

However, betting operators based in other jurisdictions may offer bets to New Zealanders over the internet and may offer bets on New Zealand sports and racing to all of their customers, regardless of the location of those customers.

Those offshore betting operators are not bound by New Zealand law, other than a prohibition on them advertising in this country.

“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,” David Bennett says.

“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.”