Australian Capital Territory
Race and Sports Bookmaking (Sports Bookmaking Events) Determination 2006 (No 1)
Disallowable Instrument DI2006 — 207

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

The Race and Sports Bookmaking Act 2001 (the Act) regulates the activities of sports bookmakers in the Australian Capital Territory.

Subsection 20(1) of the Act provides that the Commission may determine a sporting or other event to be a sports bookmaking event for the purpose of the Act.

This determination revokes DI2005-254 dated 15 November 2005 and notified under the Legislation Register on 28 November 2005.  

Clause 4 of this instrument provides for the events that may be offered for Australian Rules Football (AFL).  New clauses 4(5), (6) and (7) have been inserted to include the elite awards that may be given to senior level AFL match players.  The additional events that may be offered by licensed sports bookmakers are the Brownlow Medal, Coleman Medal and Norm Smith Medal. These additional events are directly related to the existing approved events for senior level AFL.  The insertion of these clauses provides additional clarity on the AFL events that may be offered to the public.

Clause 27(1) has been amended to reflect that Football Federation Australia is the governing body for soccer in Australia.

Clause 31 of this instrument has been amended to include international thoroughbred racing events conducted by authorised thoroughbred racing bodies.  The new international thoroughbred racing events included are:

Clause 31-
(3)	Each Hong Kong Group 1 or Group 2 thoroughbred race, as classified by the International Cataloguing Standards Committee, conducted by the Hong Kong Jockey Club;
(4)	Each New Zealand Group 1 or Group 2 thoroughbred race, as classified by the International Cataloguing Standards Committee, conducted by the New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing Inc;
(5)	Each Great Britain Group 1 or Group 2 thoroughbred race, as classified by the International Cataloguing Standards Committee, conducted by the British Horseracing Board;
(6)	Each Japanese Group 1 or Group 2 thoroughbred race, as classified by the International Cataloguing Standards Committee, conducted by the Japan Racing Association;
(7)	Each French Group 1 or Group 2 thoroughbred race, as classified by the International Cataloguing Standards Committee, conducted by France Galop;
(8)	Each Irish Group 1 or Group 2 thoroughbred race, as classified by the International Cataloguing Standards Committee, conducted by Horse Racing Ireland;
(9)	Each South African Group 1 or Group 2 thoroughbred race, as classified by the International Cataloguing Standards Committee, conducted by the Jockey Club of Southern Africa;
(10)	Each Singaporean Group 1 or Group 2 thoroughbred race, as classified by the International Cataloguing Standards Committee, conducted by the Malayan Racing Association;  and
(11)	Each Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Group 1 or Group 2 thoroughbred race, as classified by the International Cataloguing Standards Committee, conducted by the Emirates Racing Authority.

This instrument also removes previous clause 31(2) to (6) regarding the events known as the Hong Kong Vase, the Hong Kong Mile, the Hong Kong Cup, the Japan Cup and the Dubai World Cup as all events are now included in the general Hong Kong, Japanese and Dubai thoroughbred race meetings.

Previous clause 31(7) has been relocated to clause 31(2).  The clause has been amended to clearly reflect that race meetings for North American racing are only available for tote-odds betting and are specific to thoroughbred racing markets.  North American racing was introduced by the Commission in 
March 2003 and has only been approved as a tote-odds market due to 
North American markets not permitting fixed-odds markets on their racing products.  This amended clause now leaves no doubt that North American racing products are restricted to tote-odds betting markets only.  The availability of North American thoroughbred racing for only tote-odds betting markets has previously been restricted by clause 16.3(1) in the instrument for the Rules for Sports Bookmaking made under section 23(1) of the Act.  The inclusion of ‘for tote-odds markets only’ has explicitly been included in this instrument for clarity and transparency and does not represent a change in practice.

Clause 13(2), 14(4) and 21(1) of this instrument relate to greyhound, harness and quarter horse racing for North American events.  These events were also introduced at the same time as North American thoroughbred racing.  The words ‘for tote-odds markets only’ has been included for the identical reasons provided for new clause 31(2).  The restriction of these events to tote-odds markets was also provided for in the Rules for Sports Bookmaking made under section 23(1) of the Act.  The relevant clauses of the Rules are:

•	harness racing – clause 16.3(2);
•	greyhound racing – clause 16.3(3);  and
•	quarter horse racing – clause 16.3(4).

In all other respects the instrument has not been altered.