Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Act 1963

8 Prohibition of betting in streets and public places

(1) Any person frequenting or loitering in a street or public place, on behalf either of himself or of any other person, for the purposes of bookmaking, betting, agreeing to bet, or paying, receiving or settling bets shall be liable on summary conviction—

(a) to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds ; or

(b) in the case of a second conviction for an offence under 'this section, to a fine not exceeding two hundred pounds; or

(c) in the case of a third or any subsequent conviction for an offence under this section, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months, or to a fine not exceeding two hundred pounds, or to both,

and shall in any case be liable to forfeit all books, cards, papers and other articles relating to betting which may be found in his possession:

Provided that this subsection shall not apply to anything done on any ground used, or adjacent to ground used, for the purpose of a racecourse for racing with horses on a day on which horse races take place on that racecourse.

(2) Any constable may take into custody without warrant any person found committing an offence under this section and may seize and detain any article liable to be forfeited thereunder.

(3) Notwithstanding anything in section 52 (3) of this Act, a conviction for an offence under the Street Betting Act 1906 shall be deemed to have been a conviction for an offence under this section only if the offence was committed after 1st December 1961.

(4) In this section—

(a) the expression " street" includes any bridge, road, lane, footway, subway, square, court, alley or passage, whether a thoroughfare or not, which is for the time being open to the public and, in the application of this Act to Scotland, includes also any common close or common stair; and

(b) the doorways and entrances of premises abutting upon, and any ground adjoining and open to, a street shall be treated as forming part of the street.