The Online Casino Gambling (OCG) Bill proposes issuing 15 licenses to offshore operators to offer online casino gambling to Kiwis. If this were to go through, this would mean that the government will auction these licenses and take the profits of these sales. Additionally, no requirement exists for these online gambling proceeds to support community funding.
Community sporting heavily relies on the funding that comes from gambling proceeds – namely gaming machines AKA pokies – which are continuously being replaced by online gambling as suggested by global trends. This bill being approved could thus lead to negative impacts towards the running of grassroots sports in Aotearoa and its funding due to an important source of it disappearing.
Cycling New Zealand themselves are making a submission but if you wish to stay informed or make your own submission and act now, ensuring that online gambling could benefit the local community much like pokies have, you can do so before the 17th of August at the link here.
