The Act’s primary subjects are:

• Approved bodies and licensees: Non-proprietary associations and local councils seeking or holding racecourse licences (ss 6–11). They bear record-keeping, inspection and non-proprietary-status obligations (s 11).

• Racing controlling bodies: Racing New South Wales (horse racing), Harness Racing New South Wales (harness) and the Greyhound Welfare and Integrity Commission / Greyhound Racing NSW (greyhounds) (s 4(1)). They authorise licensed bookmakers (s 16A), grant race-field approvals (s 33A), receive returns (s 26G), appoint inspectors (s 26I(7)(b)) and may be sports controlling bodies (s 17B).

• Licensed bookmakers and betting service providers: Any person carrying on bookmaking, operating a totalizator or a betting exchange (s 4(1)). They require authorities for telephone/electronic betting (s 16), declared-betting-event authorities (s 19), race-field approvals (s 33) and must comply with record-keeping (ss 26GC–26GD, 21, 33JE), returns (s 26GB) and responsible-gambling rules (Part 4A).

• Sports controlling bodies and event administrators: Prescribed bodies for sporting events (s 17B) that must negotiate integrity agreements before events can be declared (s 18A) or before betting services may be offered (s 18C). They receive funding, information-sharing and consultation rights.

• Punters and the public: Indirectly affected through prohibitions on unlicensed betting, warnings-off (s 13), police exclusion orders (s 15B–15C), advertising controls and deposit limits. Organisers of punters’ clubs need racing-club and controlling-body approval (s 14).

• Advertisers and media: Any person publishing gambling advertisements or betting information faces strict liability-style offences (ss 29–31, 33H–33JA).

• Inspectors and the Secretary: Public servants and racing-body appointees exercise inspection powers (ss 11, 21, 26I, 33N). The Secretary receives returns, maintains registers and delegates functions (ss 26G, 34).

• Minister: Central decision-maker for licences (ss 7–9), authorities (ss 16, 19, 24), declarations (s 18), conditions and cancellations.

Corporations and individuals are treated differently for penalty purposes throughout (e.g. ss 17, 18C, 33H).

Duties

• Racecourse licensees must keep separate accounts (s 8(1)(b)), permit inspections (s 11(1)), and ensure only non-proprietary associations conduct meetings (s 5(1)(b)).
• Bookmakers must hold appropriate authorities before accepting telephone, electronic or declared-betting-event wagers (ss 16, 19), maintain accurate betting records for five years (s 26GC(4)), lodge turnover returns (s 26GB) and comply with integrity agreements (s 18C(2)).
• Betting service providers must implement deposit-limit schemes (s 33JB), provide activity statements (s 33JF), restrict inducements (s 33JA), obtain responsible-gambling training for relevant staff (s 33JI) and protect account-holder privacy (s 33JD).
• Sports controlling bodies must enter integrity agreements containing anti-match-fixing measures, funding and information-sharing clauses (ss 18A(3), 18C(2)).
• Publishers must refrain from publishing betting information or non-compliant gambling advertisements (ss 29, 30, 33H–33I).

Rights

• Approved bodies may apply for racecourse licences (s 6) and betting-auditorium authorisations (s 24).
• Licensed bookmakers may seek telephone/electronic authorities (s 16), declared-betting-event authorities (s 19) and race-field approvals (s 33B).
• Persons subject to police exclusion orders have a right to administrative review by NCAT, albeit with closed-hearing and non-disclosure safeguards for criminal intelligence (s 15D).
• Applicants refused race-field approvals or subjected to conditions may appeal to the Minister and thereafter seek NCAT review (ss 33D–33E).
• Racing controlling bodies may charge fees under race-field approvals (s 33A(2)(a)) and recover them as debts (s 33A(3)).

All duties are enforceable by penalty, cancellation or remedial order.

Penalties are graduated and differentiate between individuals and corporations.

• Conducting an unlicensed race meeting: first offence 50 penalty units, subsequent 100 (s 5(3)).
• Unauthorised telephone/electronic betting: corporation 100 pu, individual 50 pu or 12 months imprisonment (s 17).
• Offering sports betting without an integrity agreement: individual up to 100 pu or 6 months (second offence), corporation up to 1,000 pu (s 18C(1)).
• Breaching declared-betting-event authority conditions: identical corporate/individual escalations (s 19(1)).
• Publishing prohibited gambling advertisements or inducements: individual 100 pu, corporation 1,000 pu (ss 33H, 33HA, 33JA).
• Use of NSW race field information without approval: corporation 500 pu; individual first offence 50 pu or 12 months, subsequent 100 pu or 2 years (s 33(1)).

Higher penalties attach to executive liability (s 36AA) and accessory liability (s 36B).

Enforcement tools include:

• Ministerial cancellation of licences, authorities and approvals (ss 9, 22, 26).
• Inspector powers under applied GALA Act provisions—entry, inspection, seizure, questioning (Part 4B, s 33O).
• Penalty notices (s 35AA).
• Remedial advertising or training orders (s 35A).
• Evidentiary presumptions (s 36) and certificate evidence (s 40).
• Civil recovery of race-field fees (s 33A(3)).

Proceedings are summary before the Local Court (s 35).

The Act is not standalone. It expressly cross-references:

• Totalizator Act 1997—definition of totalizator (s 4(1)), licensing interaction (s 18(4)(b)), totalizator advertisements (s 33G(1)).
• Unlawful Gambling Act 1998—complementary prohibition on unauthorised betting; convictions under it are disclosable (s 26H(b)).
• Betting Tax Act 2001—convictions for bookmakers tax offences are disclosable (s 26H).
• Gaming and Liquor Administration Act 2007—investigation powers (Part 4B) are applied mutatis mutandis (s 33O), including secrecy and protection from liability.
• Administrative Decisions Review Act 1997—NCAT review of exclusion orders (s 15D) and Ministerial appeal decisions (s 33E); internal-review exclusion (s 15D(5), s 33E(2)).
• Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth)—specific authorisation of fee-collection agreements between racing bodies (s 33C) to immunise them from Part IV competition prohibitions.
• Crown Land Management Act 2016—approved bodies include statutory land managers (s 4(1)).
• Interpretation Act 1987—standard definitions and order-amendment powers (notes to ss 4, 17B).

The Act’s responsible-gambling provisions interact with Commonwealth online-gambling rules and state liquor legislation (definition of “gambling premises” in s 33I(6)). Race-field fees have been upheld as valid State taxation measures not inconsistent with the Commonwealth Constitution (Betfair Pty Ltd v Racing New South Wales (2012) 249 CLR 217, although the statute has since been amended).

Major amendments illustrate policy evolution:

• Racing Administration Amendment (Sports Betting National Operational Model) Act 2014 substituted ss 18–22, inserted ss 17A–18C and 19–20 (as renumbered). The changes implemented a national model requiring integrity agreements before sports betting is offered, responding to match-fixing scandals and COAG agreements.

• Liquor and Gaming Legislation Amendment Act 2018 inserted Part 4A (responsible gambling), Part 4B (investigation powers), ss 33GA, 36AA and amended numerous penalty and advertising provisions. The impetus was the 2017–18 Responsible Gambling Review and community concern over sports betting saturation.

• Gambling Legislation Amendment (Online and Other Betting) Act 2019 added detailed inducement bans (s 33JA), deposit-limit schemes (s 33JB) and account-closure rules (s 33JC). These addressed “free-bet” marketing that circumvented harm-minimisation intent.

• Racing and Gambling Legislation Amendment Act 2022 expanded Part 4A with mandatory staff training (ss 33JH–33JK), activity statements (s 33JF), privacy rules (s 33JD) and record-retention obligations. The changes implement the National Consumer Protection Framework and NSW’s 2021 gambling reforms, aiming to reduce online gambling harm through account-level controls and workforce capability.

Each tranche broadened the Act from physical-racecourse regulation to comprehensive digital-wagering oversight.

No cases are invented; only those grounded in the text or its statutory history are noted. The race-field regime survived constitutional challenge in Betfair Pty Ltd v Racing New South Wales (2012) 249 CLR 217 and Sportsbet Pty Ltd v New South Wales (2012) 249 CLR 298; the High Court accepted that fees imposed under approvals granted pursuant to the predecessor of s 33A were not discriminatory burdens on interstate trade.

Section 33C authorisations have attracted ACCC scrutiny but the statutory immunity has prevented competition-law suits. Administrative-review litigation under ss 15D and 33E has focused on procedural fairness where criminal-intelligence certificates are relied upon; NCAT decisions routinely confirm closed-hearing requirements.

Controversies persist around the breadth of “gambling advertisement” (s 33G) and whether social-media influencer posts fall inside the prohibition. The 12-month inactivity rule for withdrawal of consent (s 33HA(4)) has been criticised by consumer groups as insufficient. Police exclusion orders (s 15B) have raised natural-justice concerns, although s 15D(2) expressly limits disclosure of criminal intelligence. The interaction between declared-betting-event integrity agreements and anti-match-fixing legislation in other jurisdictions continues to generate regulatory overlap.

Most practitioners miss that a “betting exchange” is expressly excluded from the definition of “betting service provider” only when it merely facilitates bets with bookmakers or totalizators (s 4(1)); peer-to-peer matching facilities remain fully captured and require race-field approvals.

The five-year record-retention obligation in s 26GC(4) runs from the date the bet is made, not settled; many operators incorrectly diary from race day.

Section 33JA(3) prohibits free-bet inducements unless “all payouts from the free bet may be withdrawn from that account at any time”—a drafting nuance that catches rollover or wagering-requirement promotions still common in the industry.

Race-field approvals are granted by the relevant racing control body for each race (s 33A(1)), not a single state-wide approval; a national operator must hold 50–100 separate approvals annually, each potentially carrying distinct fees and conditions.

The Minister’s power to prescribe classes of events (s 18(1)) combined with the conclusive regulation-making power in s 17A(2) means a single regulation can sweep hundreds of lower-tier sports into the integrity-agreement net without further parliamentary scrutiny.

Inspectors appointed by racing bodies under s 26I(7)(b) exercise statutory powers only in respect of bookmakers authorised by that body; cross-body inspections require separate ministerial appointment under s 33M. Failure to observe this distinction has led to evidence being excluded in prosecutions.

Finally, the remedial-order power (s 35A) can be used even where no conviction is recorded if the court “finds a person guilty”; deferred-sentence or non-conviction orders do not insulate against mandatory training or corrective advertising.

Race clubs and licensees

1. Confirm non-proprietary status annually and maintain segregated accounts (s 8(1)(b)).
2. Lodge prescribed returns within statutory deadlines (ss 26G, 26GA).
3. Ensure every meeting is conducted by an approved non-proprietary association (s 5(1)(b)).
4. Display exclusion-order notices and train staff to enforce them (s 15B(6)).

Licensed bookmakers and betting service providers

1. Obtain and maintain declared-betting-event authorities before accepting sports bets (s 19).
2. Negotiate and keep current integrity agreements with every relevant sports controlling body (s 18C).
3. Implement deposit-limit, account-closure and statement systems exactly as prescribed (ss 33JB–33JF).
4. Deliver initial and annual refresher responsible-gambling training to all “relevant individuals” and retain records for seven years (ss 33JI–33JJ).
5. Secure race-field information use approvals from each controlling body for every NSW race on which bets are offered or settled (s 33); pay fees and comply with conditions.
6. Maintain bet-by-bet written records for five years in the approved form (s 26GC).
7. Ensure all advertising and direct marketing complies with the eight statutory content rules and advisory-statement requirements (s 33H(2)–(4)); obtain pre-clearance where practicable.
8. Appoint a compliance officer to manage inspector requests under Part 4B; produce GALA-derived powers-of-entry protocols.

Sports controlling bodies

1. Apply for prescription under s 17B if none exists.
2. Proactively negotiate integrity agreements containing the four mandatory elements (s 18A(3)).
3. Exercise consultation rights before any new bet type is approved (s 18(5)).

Advertisers and media

1. Adopt a “licensed-provider only” filter for all gambling-related copy.
2. Insert mandatory advisory statements in print and prescribed-format advertisements (s 33H(3)).
3. Cease all in-play advertising during sporting fixtures (s 33I).

All parties

• Map every function against the Act’s definitions (s 4) before acting; “betting service” is broader than most assume.
• Document decisions on deposit limits, consent withdrawals and training completion—NCAT and inspectors routinely request these files.
• Maintain a register of all Ministerial Gazette orders and racing-control-body rules; they form part of the “law” for compliance purposes (s 18D(5)).
• Engage specialist wagering counsel to review integrity agreements and race-field conditions; the financial exposure from a single non-compliant national operator can exceed $1 million in avoided fees plus penalties.

Annual compliance audits keyed to the calendar-year return deadlines (s 26G(3)) and the 12-month training cycle (s 33JI(2)(b)) are the minimum prudent practice.