Betting and Gaming Duties Act 1981

Pool betting duty

6 Pool betting duty

(1) There shall be charged a duty of excise, to be known as pool betting duty—

(a) subject to subsection (2) below, on all bets made by way of pool betting, wherever made, and

(b) on all bets made at fixed odds with the Horserace Totalisator Board or a bookmaker in Great Britain by way of coupon betting,

not being bets made by way of sponsored pool betting or made as mentioned in section 1(1)(c) above.

(2) Bets made by way of pool betting are chargeable with pool betting duty only if—

(a) in the case of bets made by means of a totalisator, the totalisator is situated in Great Britain ;

(b) in the case of bets made otherwise than by means of a totalisator, the promoter of the betting is in Great Britain.

(3) For the purposes of this section and sections 7 and 8 below (except in their application to coupon betting)—

(a) subject to paragraph (b) and section 12(3) below, where payments are made for the chance of winning any money or money's worth on terms under which the persons making the payments have a power of selection which may (directly or indirectly) determine the winner, those payments shall be treated as bets notwithstanding that the power is not exercised ;

(b) " bet" does not include the taking of a ticket or chance—

(i) in any lottery which is declared by section 3, 4 or 25(6) of the [1976 c. 32.] Lotteries and Amusements Act 1976 not to be unlawful; or

(ii) in any society's lottery or local lottery within the meaning of section 5 or 6 of that Act, in which the relevant monetary limits are not exceeded.

(4) In subsection (3) above " relevant monetary limits " means the limits referred to in section 5(3)(d)(i) and subsections (2), (5), (6) and (8) of section 11 of the said Act of 1976 as those sections have effect on 1st July 1981 or such other limits as the Commissioners may by order provide.

7 Amount of pool betting duty

(1) The amount of the pool betting duty shall be equal in the case of pool competitions bets to 33| per cent, and in any other case to 40 per cent, of the aggregate of—

(a) the amount of the stake money paid, and

(b) the expenses and profits described in subsection (4) below (but subject to subsection (5) below).

(2) For the purposes of subsection (1) above bets are pool competitions bets if they are made by way of pool betting in respect of a competition for prizes held by—

(a) the holder of a licence under the [1971 c. 57.] Pool Competitions Act 1971, or

(b) any person approved by the Secretary of State in that behalf on the recommendation of the Gaming Board for Great Britain.

(3) For the purposes of pool betting duty, any payment which entitles a person to make a bet by way of pool betting or coupon betting shall, if he makes the bet, be treated as stake money on the bet; and this subsection shall apply to any payment entitling a person to take part in a transaction which is, on his part, only not a bet made by way of pool betting or coupon betting by reason of his not in fact making any stake as if the transaction were such a bet, and the transaction shall accordingly be treated as a bet for the purposes of pool betting duty.

(4) The expenses and profits referred to in subsection (1)(b) above are the expenses and profits of the promoter of the betting or any other person concerned with or benefiting from the promotion of the betting so far as they are not provided for out of the stake money and are not shown to be referable to matters other than the promotion and management of the betting and activities ancillary thereto or connected therewith; and all payments made for or on account of or in connection with any bets made by way of pool betting or coupon betting in addition to the stake money by the persons making the bets shall be treated as representing amounts on which duty is (subject to subsection (5) below) chargeable by virtue of subsection (1)(b) above except in so far as the promoter of the betting proves the contrary.

(5) There shall be excepted from any charge to duty under this section the amount of any benefit accruing from the betting to a society established and conducted for charitable purposes only or to a society established and conducted wholly or mainly for the support of athletic sports or athletic games and not established or conducted for purposes of private gain, if the benefit is provided by means of payments made by persons making bets and those persons know, when making the payments, that their purpose is to provide the benefit.

In this subsection " society " includes any club, institution, organisation or association of persons, by whatever name called.

8 Payment and recovery of pool betting duty

(1) Pool betting duty shall be paid—

(a) in the case of bets made by means of a totalisator, by the operator and,

(b) in the case of other bets, by the promoter.

(2) The pool betting duty chargeable on any bet shall be recoverable jointly and severally from all or any of the following persons—

(a) the conductor of the dutiable betting by way of which the bet was made ;

(b) any other person responsible for the management of any premises or totalisator in respect of which that conductor has made entry or given notice in accordance with paragraph 4(2) or (4) of Schedule 1 to this Act;

(c) where a person within paragraph (a) or (b) above is a company, any director of that company.

(3) In this section—

• " conductor of dutiable betting " means a person carrying on a business the carrying on of which involves or may involve any sums becoming payable by him by way of pool betting duty ;

• " dutiable betting " means betting by way of pool betting or coupon betting.