$20m fund to help Kiwis leverage Cup
The Government has created a stand-alone Lottery fund in a bid to help the rest of New Zealand benefit from the 2021 America’s Cup.
Internal Affairs Minister Tracey Martin unveiled the $20 million fund yesterday, which was funded from the excess profits of the state lottery fund.
“While Auckland will be hosting the event, the fund aims to spread community gains across the country,” she said.
Martin said the Government “just happened” to have quite a lot of profit from lotteries in the last financial year.
Under the law, all profits from Lotto are invested back into New Zealand through the Lotteries Commission.
The Department of Internal Affairs administers the fund on behalf of the Lottery Grant Board.
The America’s Cup Fund will be open until the end of December 2020 or until all the funding has been fully distributed.
Funding is available for capital projects and items that relate to or connect New Zealanders to the 2021 America’s Cup. An example for a project which could win funding would be a yachting club in the South Island which wanted to buy an accessible boat for the disability community to use, Martin said.
“The America’s Cup is a global event, and having it here is a significant opportunity — one that can benefit towns and cities across New Zealand in the lead up to, during and post-2021,” she said.
But Act leader David Seymour is not a fan of the new fund.
“The idea of the Government setting up a special lottery for the America’s Cup? Give us a break. Is there any aspect of life that Government is not getting its tentacles into?”