The New Zealand racing industry will get a $72.5 million emergency support package, Racing Minister Winston Peters has announced.

“We can’t gild the lily. The racing industry has been hit by the perfect storm of Covid-19 while in a weak financial state and in the midst of a reform programme,”

“As a result, there is a genuine risk of insolvency and the industry losing the future gains of its reforms. The Government has a respond, recover, and rebuild strategy for Covid-19. This announcement is the first step towards a long-term restoration of racing.

Of the immediate grant, $26 million will be used to pay RITA’s outstanding supplier bill which Peters said it hadn’t been able to because of “strangled revenue”.

The other share of this package will ensure RITA, and each of the racing codes, can maintain a baseline functionality and resume racing activities,” Peters said.