Have your say on the Online Casino Gambling Bill

A United Voice for Community Sport

Nearly 50 National Sporting Organisations (NSOs) and Regional Sports Trusts (RSTs) have come together to form a collective sport voice in response to the proposed Online Casino Gambling (OCG) Bill. This Bill poses a serious threat to the future of community sport funding in Aotearoa New Zealand.

We need your help to protect the funding that keeps our clubs, competitions, and community programmes alive.

Why This Matters

The OCG Bill aims to legalise currently illegal online casino gambling by auctioning 15 licenses to overseas operators. However, the licenced operators will have no obligation to provide community funding, and global trends suggest online gambling significantly reduces or replaces pokie gaming.

Currently, community sport benefits significantly from pokie trust grants. These funds support:

• Affordable participation fees
• Volunteer development
• Equipment and facility upgrades
• Grassroots programmes

Without a mechanism to share online gambling profits with the community, this vital funding source is at risk of disappearing.

What’s At Stake?

• 50% of pokie grants go directly to Clubs
• 43% go to Regional Sports Organisations (RSOs)

This shift could undermine the financial sustainability of community sport, especially as costs rise, sponsorships decline, and local government support shrinks. The fifty NSOs and RSTs that have now come together in this initiative are striving to get Government to agree to share online casino gambling revenues with community sport.

What You Can Do

Make a submission by 17 August 2025. The Select Committee needs to hear how important gambling funding is to our communities. Your voice matters, whether you're a Club, RSO, or NSO.

Prepare Your Submission

• Understand the risks posed by the OCG Bill
• Download the Submission Pack we've created to support you

Appendix 1: Submission Template

Appendix 2: Submission Instructions

• Write your submission and tell your story

The Select Committee needs to hear how grants have helped your organisation:

What programmes or events have you run thanks to this funding?

How many people in your community benefit?

What will happen if this funding disappears?

If we don’t speak up, decision-makers may assume this isn’t a serious issue.

Make Your Submission

• Submissions are due by 17 August 2025

Submit Here

• Share this article with your networks

Together, we can protect the future of community sport.