Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Act 1963

5 Restriction of betting on tracks

(1) Betting by way of bookmaking or by means of a totalisator shall not take place on any track—

(a) on more than one hundred and four days in the same period of twelve months, being a period beginning with 1st July in any year ; or

(b) on any Good Friday, Christmas Day or Sunday.

(2) If bookmaking is carried on, or a totalisator is operated, by any person on any track on a day on which betting on that track is prohibited by this section, that person, and, if that person is not the occupier of the track, that occupier also, shall be guilty of an offence:

Provided that where the occupier of a track is charged with an offence by reason of a contravention of this section on the part of another person, it shall be a defence for him to prove that the contravention occurred without his consent or connivance and that he exercised all due diligence to prevent it.

(3) Where facilities for pool betting provided on an approved horse racecourse by the Totalisator Board or, with the authority of that Board, by the persons having the management of that racecourse are provided otherwise than by means of a totalisator, subsections (1) and (2) of this section shall have effect as if the provision of those facilities were the operation of a totalisator by that Board or, as the case may be, by those persons.