More power to "illegal" bookmakers

According to NZ Press Association , a woman who has just been caught and convicted of "illegal bookmaking" "has evoked a seedy part of the New Zealand pub scene of years gone by."

What nonsense. The writer might just as well have said the story evoked the freer, more sunlit experience overseas in which punters are free to choose from the more competitive odds offered by bookies both on-course and off, free to stroll from one to the other and enjoy the many characters, all of them competing for the punter's business. They could have said that, because that would be much closer to the truth.

Such a delightful experience is not allowed, however, in this pathetic authoritarian backwater in which we live, where all betting that isn't nationalised is prohibited, and where anyone who is not the TAB who offers punters a flutter can attract "a fine not exceeding $20,000, or up to a year's imprisonment."

Internal affairs jobsworth Mr Mike Hill -- who revels in the title of "director of gambling compliance" -- said: "Bookmaking effectively diverts money from the community and from the racing industry." That would be the reason the racing industry worldwide is doing do poorly then. Perhaps they should all follow our example then and nationalise their betting, just as Nanny has done here?

Meanwhile Sue Bradford, who can barely let a whole day go past without calling for a ban, now wants a new online betting site banned because it has gone to the trouble of registering offshore to get around the pathetic nannying rules that are this country's gambling laws. The freshly launched Race-O New Zealand site is registered in Costa Rica and its betting licence has been secured from the autonomous Indian territory of Kahnawake in Canada, sending a very solid "Fuck you" to Ms Bradford, to Nanny's "director of gambling compliance" Mr Hill, and to the law that Nanny's director of compliance so assiduously polices.

You can place a bet with Race-O here. Think of Sue Bradford when you do.

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