Section 184: Combined Bingo
Summary
1.Section 184 amends section 20A of the Betting and Gaming Duties Act 1981 (BGDA) which provides the accounting arrangements for games of combined bingo.
Details of the Section
2.Subsection (2) amends section 20A(3) of BGDA 1981 to define the payments that may be taken into account for the purpose of calculating the duty liability from combined bingo.
3.Subsection (3) removes section 20A(4) of BGDA 1981. Section 20A(4) is the qualifying condition that the game is played entirely in the United Kingdom. Removal of subsection 20A(4) will enable bingo promoters in the United Kingdom to offer games in conjunction with promoters outside the United Kingdom without affecting their own bingo duty liability.
4.Subsection (4) provides that these new accounting arrangements will have effect for bingo duty accounting periods that begin on or after the date of Royal Assent to Finance Act 2013.
Background
5.Bingo duty is charged at 20 per cent of a person’s bingo profits, calculated by reference to receipts and expenditure on winnings. Bingo that is promoted by more than one person and played simultaneously at more than one place is known as combined bingo. To prevent double counting of payments that are transferred between promoters, as contributions to prize funds, special accounting provisions apply to combined bingo. These accounting provisions only apply where the bingo is played entirely in the United Kingdom.
6.This section will modify the accounting arrangements and remove the qualifying condition that the game is played entirely in the United Kingdom. This will enable bingo promoters in the United Kingdom to offer games in conjunction with promoters elsewhere without affecting their own bingo duty liability.
