New South Wales Consolidated Acts

HARNESS RACING ACT 2009 - SECT 19

19 Registration of bookmakers

(1) An individual over the age of 18 years or a proprietary company may apply to HRNSW for registration as a bookmaker in relation to harness racing.

(2) Despite section 18 (2), HRNSW must refuse to grant an application for registration of a proprietary company as a bookmaker unless satisfied that the company is an eligible company.

(3) For the purposes of this section, "eligible company" means a proprietary company that is registered under the Corporations Act 2001 of the Commonwealth and in which:

(a) each director, shareholder and person concerned in the management of the company is of or over the age of 18 years, and

(b) each director is registered as a bookmaker under this Act, and

(c) each director is a shareholder and person concerned in the management of the company, and

(d) each shareholder who is not a director is a close family member of a director, and

(e) each shareholder or person concerned in the management of the company who is not a director is, in the opinion of HRNSW, a fit and proper person to be registered as an individual as a bookmaker under this Act, and

(f) no shareholder or person concerned in the management of the company, other than a director, is registered as an individual as a bookmaker under this Act, and

(g) subject to the regulations, no person (other than a shareholder) has any interest in the shares or assets of the company.

(4) It is a condition of a company’s registration as a bookmaker under this Act that:

(a) the company continues to be an eligible company, and

(b) no director, shareholder or person concerned in the management of the company:

(i) is a director, shareholder or person concerned in the management of, or is an employee or agent of, any other company that is registered as a bookmaker under this Act, or

(ii) has a financial interest in any business of a bookmaker that is carried on by any such other company under the authority of its registration under this Act, or

(iii) is registered or otherwise authorised as an individual to carry on, or carries on, the business of a bookmaker, bookmaker’s clerk or turf commission agent, or a totalizator business, or any other kind of betting, wagering, gambling or gaming business, in another country, or

(iv) is a director, shareholder or person concerned in the management of a corporation, or is a member of a partnership, that is registered or otherwise authorised to carry on, or that carries on, any such business in another country, or

(v) is an employee or agent of any individual, partnership or corporation referred to in subparagraph (iii) or (iv), or

(vi) has a financial interest in the business of a bookmaker or turf commission agent, or a totalizator business, or any other kind of betting, wagering, gambling or gaming business, that is authorised to be carried on or is carried on in another country.

(5) It is a condition of a company’s registration as a bookmaker under this Act that no director, shareholder or person concerned in the management of the company:

(a) carries on the business of a bookmaker, otherwise than on behalf of the company, in relation to any greyhound, horse or harness race, at a harness racing meeting in New South Wales, or

(b) carries on the business of an authorised betting event bookmaker, otherwise than on behalf of the company, at a racecourse licensed for harness racing.

(6) In subsection (4) (b), a reference to carrying on the business of a bookmaker, or the business of a bookmaker’s clerk or turf commission agent, includes a reference to acting as a bookmaker, or a bookmaker’s clerk or turf commission agent.

(7) HRNSW may suspend or cancel the registration of a company as a bookmaker if satisfied that any condition referred to in subsection (4) or (5) is contravened in respect of the company. This does not limit the powers of HRNSW to suspend or cancel the registration of a company as a bookmaker under section 21.

(8) Any debt that is incurred by a company in carrying on business as a bookmaker registered under this Act is enforceable jointly and severally against all persons who are directors of the company at the time the debt is incurred (whether or not they are directors at the time the debt is sought to be enforced).

(9) In this section:
"authorised betting event bookmaker" has the same meaning as in section 4 of the Racing Administration Act 1998 .
"close family member of a director" means:

(a) a spouse, de facto partner, parent, child, brother or sister of the director, or

(b) a person who has a relationship with the director that is prescribed by the regulations for the purposes of this definition.

Note: “De facto partner” is defined in section 21C of the Interpretation Act 1987 .

"financial interest" in a bookmaking business means an entitlement to receive any of the income from the business.
"proprietary company" has the same meaning as in the Corporations Act 2001 of the Commonwealth.
"racecourse licensed for harness racing" means a racecourse in respect of which a licence for harness racing meetings granted under section 7 of the Racing Administration Act 1998 is in force.