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The BulletinJanuary 16, 2025

The overdue decision to increase Lotto age restrictions

The Bulletin editor
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Currently, under 18s are legally allowed to buy Lotto tickets. That’s about to change, explains The Bulletin’s Stewart Sowman-Lund.

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Lotto sales to under 18s to be banned

I don’t know about you, but I had not quite clicked to the fact under 18s are allowed to purchase Lotto tickets in store. This week, 1News broke the news that the government was moving to change that, bringing the legal age for purchasing a Lotto ticket up to 18 – in line with the current age restrictions on Instant Kiwi services. The government intends to embed this “really simple” amendment within a proposed omnibus bill later this year. Retailers could be fined about $1,000 if caught selling Lotto tickets to under 18s.

Speaking to the proposed changes on Newstalk ZB earlier in the week, internal affairs minister Brooke van Velden said it was about making the rules consistent for retailers and the public. “TAB is already over 18 as well as pokies,” she said. Van Velden described the law change as “minor”, given that most teenagers weren’t purchasing Lotto tickets. “I know there are some retailers that don’t want to sell to children, but at the moment that’s a legal grey area.”

‘Really important’

The change did not come entirely out of the blue, even though it wasn’t publicly on the government’s agenda until now. In 2022, RNZ’s Guyon Espiner reported that the former Labour government was considering a law change after reports of children as young as nine purchasing Lotto tickets. “That is work that is completely on the table,” former internal affairs minister Jan Tinetti said. The Problem Gambling Foundation has been in support of a law change for some time. The foundation’s advocacy and public health director Andree Froude told Morning Report yesterday it was “gobsmacking” children have been allowed to legally purchase Lotto products, even if they were buying them for older people such as parents. “It does tend to normalise gambling and make it seem to them that there’s no risk associated with it and that it’s just a normal everyday thing to do,” he said. ”So this is really important and sends a signal that these are gambling products and that children should not be able to purchase them.”

Lotto has welcomed the move, reported 1News, saying it creates consistency for retailers. Van Velden said she expected the law change to be made without much push back.

The bigger picture

There are broader issues to explore around Lotto in New Zealand. Last year, The Spinoff’s editor Madeleine Chapman looked at public interest, via the media, in large Lotto jackpots, noting “three days of national news dominated by stories of people who either just got rich or have been rich for a very long time” while the country was in a cost of living crisis. “There’s an air of dystopia in the soaring interest in Lotto during times of economic struggle,” wrote Chapman.

In another report back in 2022, Guyon Espiner reported that nearly 70% of Lotto’s in-store sales were made in the poorest parts of the country. At the time, Lotto acknowledged the issue and said it would close some of its stores in “areas of high deprivation” by the end of the year. I couldn’t find evidence of this being followed through on, however it appears that the uptake of online Lotto sales has resulted in a number of retail counters shuttering by the end of 2024 anyway, reported the Herald.

Where the money goes

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Then there’s the community funding angle. As noted by Espiner during an interview on The Detail, the existence of Lotto – a Crown entity – also means the continued existence of community organisations that rely on the funding it generates. A special Lotto draw in the wake of Cyclone Gabrielle raised close to $12m for impacted communities, as one stark example. This isn’t just limited to Lotto. I recommend delving back into this report by The Spinoff’s Shanti Mathias from last year looking at pokies in Aotearoa.

As Mathias observed, this form of gambling also helps support local communities, while raking in substantial profits. “Not far away from the shimmering screens of the machines are dozens of community projects funded by their profits, stamped with the logos of the charities that distribute that money. In Porirua, that money goes to the council’s annual Matariki celebration, events celebrating local businesses and sports awards; around the rest of the country, sports teams, community centres, disability support and much more are funded by gambling.”

As Mathias reported, Porirua’s 156 pokie machines made more than $23,000 each in the first three months of 2024. And even as the number of machines decreases, profits have risen.

Keep going!
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The BulletinJanuary 15, 2025

Treaty bill submissions have closed. Now what?

The Bulletin editor
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David Seymour has welcomed the huge amount of public interest in his controversial proposed law, explains The Bulletin’s Stewart Sowman-Lund.

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An outpouring of interest

Submissions on the controversial treaty principles bill closed yesterday afternoon, following an extension triggered by technical issues that crashed parliament’s website. While the finally tally of online submissions on the bill won’t be known until tomorrow, it’s almost certainly going to break records. The Post’s Anna Whyte reported that more than 300,000 submissions were made online prior to the deadline being extended, meaning the final number will be well in excess of that. In addition, thousands of hard copy submissions were delivered to parliament. David Seymour, the bill’s architect, told Stuff’s Glenn McConnell that the public response was a good thing. “Even people who don’t support my bill appear to be supporting the idea of mass participation in what the Treaty means in 2025. I think that is very, very exciting,” he said.

The path from here

So what happens next? The justice select committee will meet on Thursday to decide how it goes about handling the vast number of submissions. This will include deciding how to deal with submissions made using template forms provided by groups both in favour and against the bill to make providing feedback quicker. As soon as is possible, accepted submissions will be released to the public. The committee will also decide how to hear oral submissions, with these expected to be wrapped up by the end of next month. Not everyone who requested the chance to share their feedback in person or on Zoom will be able to do so, however. Justice committee chair James Meager, reported The Herald’s Adam Pearse, said that the committee had “received more requests for oral submissions than we will be able to accommodate, so only a small proportion of submitters will be able to be heard from”.

Speaking to The Spinoff’s Toby Manhire last year, Meager said the select committee intended to treat the submissions on the bill as it would with any other piece of proposed legislation, despite the fact it is destined not to pass its second reading. “It is still, I think, worth having the conversation when it comes before us and treating it with the respect that you treat any other piece of legislation.”

The committee is due to report back following consultation in May.

Surge of submissions on regulations proposal

Meanwhile, a wave of late submissions were also delivered ahead of the release of another bill also championed by Act leader David Seymour. The Regulatory Standards Bill doesn’t even exist yet, and yet close to 23,000 submissions were received on a discussion document intended to inform the drafting of the bill, reported RNZ’s Lillian Hanly. There has been increased awareness of the future bill as it’s drawn into the orbit of the treaty principles bill, noted Hanly. Many of the submissions – around 80% – came in the final four days of the consultation period. The Spinoff’s Lyric Waiwiri-Smith has a good explainer on the proposed bill this morning, noting that some see the bill as a natural companion to the treaty principles bill. Lady Tureiti Moxon, chairwoman of the National Urban Māori Authority, has argued the proposed bill poses “a dangerous direct threat to Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the rights of Māori”.

It’s not Act’s first attempt at having a regulatory standards bill become law, but due to its inclusion in the coalition agreement with National, this time it will pass.

Arms Act ‘rewrite’ up for consultation

If you’re wondering if there are any other controversial proposed law changes open for consultation, well, you’re in luck. The government’s intended rewrite of the Arms Act is open for submissions, reports Farmer’s Weekly, and will run through until the end of next month. Responses to the Ministry of Justice discussion document will help inform the government’s planned law update. Associate justice minister Nicole McKee said the government wanted to ensure that New Zealand had a “fit-for-purpose regime” for controlling firearms, with “public safety and simple, effective regulatory processes at its heart”. As of last year, McKee wouldn’t rule out trying to re-introduce semi-automatic firearms outlawed in the wake of the Christchurch mosque attack.