New Zealand Restricts Foreign Online Betting

Since local racing industry is suffering from foreign betting activity, the New Zealand officials are taking measures.

Nathan Guy, the Racing Minister of New Zealand, has announced official plans to restrict betting to foreign companies after reduced profit was recorded. He said that the foreign betting activity is slowing down domestic gaming industry, online gambling news in New Zealand report.

The Racing Board and the Totalisator Agency Board (TAB) had monopoly on sports, and were supposed to distribute profits back to the professional racing sector. The process, however, was being disrupted by players betting with online gambling companies from abroad, the Racing Minister also claimed.

Offshore companies avoid paying proper taxes

“This means offshore organisations make money on New Zealand racing and sports without paying their fair share of tax,“ the official has said. He also claimed that those companies don’t make contributions back to the racing industry, which make the betting possible.

As a result, a board chaired by former National MP Chris Tremain is going to make a review of the impact that the mobile betting system has upon the state. A main issue was that the operators from abroad are not subject to the same laws for responsible gambling as the local ones. The official also said underage gambling could turn out to be an issue.