The Gaming Machine (Circumstances of Use) Regulations 2007

Committed payment limits

9.—(1) This regulation is subject to regulation 11.

(2) Where a Category A, B or C gaming machine is made available for use, a person must not be able, by means of a single action, to make a committed payment in respect of the use of the machine which exceeds—

(a) in relation to a Category A, B1, B2, B3 or B3A machine, £10, or

(b) in relation to a Category B4 or C machine, £5.

(3) A committed payment is a payment of money or money’s worth where—

(a) the whole amount is used to pay a charge for use in respect of a gaming machine,

(b) the whole amount is held by or in relation to a gaming machine as a committed amount, or

(c) part is used to pay a charge for use, with the remaining amount being held by or in relation to the machine as a committed amount.

(4) In these Regulations “committed amount”, in relation to a gaming machine, means an amount of money or money’s worth—

(a) held to the credit of a person using the machine for the purposes of paying one or more charges for use, and

(b) which, immediately after it is paid or (as the case may be) immediately after the action referred to in paragraph (7) is taken in relation to it, is not recoverable by a person using the machine.

(5) Where a part (but not the whole) of a payment is treated in one of the ways described in paragraph (3) the amount of that part of the payment must not exceed the limit specified in paragraph (2) in relation to the relevant category of machine.

(6) Paragraph (5) is without prejudice to any limit which may apply to the whole of the payment by virtue of regulation 7.

(7) Where a person using a gaming machine performs an action whose effect is to cause an amount held as part of the deposited sum to be—

(a) used to pay a charge for use in respect of the machine,

(b) held by or in relation to the machine as a committed amount, or

(c) partly used to pay a charge for use, with the remaining amount held by or in relation to the machine as a committed amount,

that action is to be treated for the purposes of this regulation as the making of a committed payment.

(8) Nothing in this regulation shall prevent a person, by means of a series of actions, from making one or more payments which exceed the limits specified in paragraph (2) provided that in each case the amount paid by means of a single action complies with the relevant limit.

(9) In these Regulations “the deposited sum”, in relation to a gaming machine, means the amount of money or money’s worth—

(a) which for the time being is held by or in relation to the machine to the credit of a person using the machine, and

(b) none of which is held as a committed amount.

(10) The limit in paragraph (2) does not apply, in the case of a Category A or B2 gaming machine which is designed or adapted to allow a person to pay a charge for use by using an amount of the deposited sum in relation to the machine, until 1st March 2008.