Finance Act 1966

12 General betting duty.

(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, on any bet made on or after 24th October 1966 which—

(a) is made with a bookmaker in Great Britain otherwise than by way of pool betting or coupon betting ; or

(b) is made by way of sponsored pool betting or is other wise made by means of facilities provided by the Horserace Totalisator Board ; or

(c) is made on any event on a track by means of a totalisator on that track and on the day on which that event takes place, being a track which is, or which the Commissioners see fit to treat for the purposes of this paragraph as if it were, a licensed track,

there shall be charged a duty of excise to be known as the general betting duty.

(2) The general betting duty in respect of any bet—

(a) without prejudice to any regulations made under paragraph 1 of Schedule 3 to this Act, shall be due on the making of the bet;

(b) shall be of an amount equal to two and a half per cent. of the amount staked ; and

(c) shall be paid—

(i) in the case of a bet with a bookmaker, and without prejudice to subsection (3) of this section, by the bookmaker;

(ii) in the case of a bet made as mentioned in subsection (1)(b) of this section, by the Horserace Totalisator Board or other person providing the facilities by means of which the bet is made ;

(iii) in the case of such a bet made by means of a totalisator as is mentioned in subsection (1)(c) of this section, by the operator, that is to say, the person who, as principal, operates the totalisator.

(3) The general betting duty chargeable on any bet made with a bookmaker shall be recoverable jointly and severally from all or any of the following persons, namely—

(a) that bookmaker;

(b) the holder of the bookmaker's permit or betting office licence relating to the business in the course of which, or the premises at which, the bet was made;

(c) any person responsible for the management of that business or those premises;

(d) where the bookmaker is a company, any director of that company.

(4) For the purposes of the general betting duty, where a person bets on more than one contingency on the terms that, in the event of his bet being successful in respect of one contingency, his stake on the bet, or his winnings in respect of that contingency, or both, are to provide the stake in respect of another contingency, then, unless he makes his bet on both or all of those contingencies at the same time and on the terms that both his original stake and the whole of his winnings in respect of any of those contingencies are to be the stake in respect of any other contingency on which the bet is made—

(a) he shall be treated as making a separate bet on each respectively of those contingencies and as staking on each of those separate bets the amount respectively provided for by the terms of the original bet;

(b) any of those separate bets which depends on the out come of another or others of them shall be treated as made if and when the conditions on which it depends are satisfied.

(5) The aggregate amount paid by or debited to the account of the bettor for or on account of or in connection with any bet chargeable with the general betting duty shall be treated for the purposes of that duty as his stake on the bet, notwithstanding that his winnings (if any) are to be computed on part only of that amount, or that part of it is not to be returned to him in the event of his winning, and no deduction shall be made for other benefits secured by the bettor in paying that amount, or for the expenses of any person on account of the duty or otherwise, or for any other matter.

(6) The pool betting duty shall not be chargeable on any bet made as mentioned in subsection (1)(c) of this section on or after 24th October 1966, and accordingly as from that date—

(a) except in relation to a bet made before that date, section 1(1) of the [1963 c. 3.] Betting Duties Act 1963 (which charges the pool betting duty) shall have effect as if for the words " other than sponsored pool betting " there were substituted the words " which are not chargeable with the general betting duty "; and

(b) paragraph 4(a)(i) of Schedule 5 to the [1963 c. 2.] Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Act 1963 (which relates to the disposal of amounts staked by means of a totalisator on a dog racecourse) for the words " pool betting duty " there shall be substituted the words " general betting duty ";

and as from that date bookmakers' licence duty shall cease to be charged.