Betting in NZ to be transformed

John Allen.
John Allen.
New Zealand bettors who want to have a flutter at the TAB are about to be spoilt for choice.

The New Zealand Racing Board. which runs the New Zealand TAB, announced yesterday it will launch a new fixed-odds betting platform that would allow the TAB to transform how New Zealanders place their bets.

The new platform will be delivered through a partnership between the TAB and international betting players OpenBet and Paddy Power Betfair.

The new technology effectively puts the New Zealand TAB up to speed with other betting agencies around the world, which already offer a significantly larger array of betting options.

The NZRB hopes to have it established by the start of the 2018-19 racing season.

''It is very significant in the amount of product we will have available,'' NZRB CEO John Allen said.

''It is an improvement in the amount of time in the course of a game that we will be able to offer in-play product.''

The new range of betting options will be available because the new platform is more automated and less labour intensitive than the system the TAB bookmakers use at the moment.

''With the manual nature of our processes there's lots of periods in the game that we have to suspend betting because we are changing the odds.

''That will shift very dramatically under this system because everything is automated.''

Allen is also eyeing other improvements to the way New Zealanders approach their bets.

Most overseas operators already offer their punters the chance to ''cash out'' partway through their bets and that is one of the improvements that could be allowed by the new system.

''It lays the foundation for us to be able to add new, enhanced services like cash out and those sorts of things that you see around the world.''

Live betting has been at the centre of corruption allegations in sport across the world, but the NZRB is mindful of integrity issues following the anticiapted increase in their offering of the product.

''Integrity is something we are always working on and thinking about,'' Allen said.

Allen did not put a specific figure on the expected income the new platform will bring the NZRB, although he did signal it was part of the intiatives that were to fund the stake increases that have already been promised to the racing codes.

In April, Allen announced the racing codes have been guaranteed funding of $148.2 million for the next two racing seasons, up from the current level of $136.2 million.

The introduction on new betting technology only strengthens the chances of live betting on horse racing being eventually a reality for the TAB.

In March, the TAB told the Otago Daily Times it would introduce live betting options on horse races once the Racing Act was amended to allow it.

The agency did not confirm in what form the live bets would be offered or any of the details as to how the service would function.

The legislation to amend the Racing Act is still being drafted by the Parliamentary Counsel Office, but Allen is hopeful that will be completed quickly.

''I am working closely with David Bennett, the new minister of racing, to try and drive that through as we can,'' he said

-By Jonny Turner

Comments

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