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Story: Gambling

Betting on horses, 1912

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Queue of men in top hats outside horse betting booth
Until the 1980s betting on horses was one of only two significant forms of gambling in New Zealand (the other being lotteries). In 1910 bookmakers were made illegal, but on-course betting using the totalisator remained. Here men queue to place their bets at Trentham racecourse soon after the change.

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Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: 1/2-045487

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

David Grant, Gambling – Sports betting, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/2250/betting-on-horses-1912 (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by David Grant, published 15 January 2010.