Betting and Gaming Duties Act 1972
Betting and Gaming DutiesAct 1972
1972 CHAPTER 25
An Act to consolidate certain enactments concerning the duties of excise relating to betting and gaming.
[11th May 1972]
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
Part I
Betting Duties
General betting duty
1 General betting duty.
(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, on any bet which—
(a ) is made with a bookmaker in Great Britain otherwise than by way of pool betting or coupon betting, or
(b ) is made by way of sponsored pool betting or is otherwise made by means of facilities provided by the Horserace Totalisator Board, or
(c ) is made on any event on a track to which this paragraph applies by means of a totalisator on that track and on the day on which that event takes place,
there shall be charged a duty of excise to be known as general betting duty.
(2) The general betting duty in respect of any bet shall—
(a ) if it is an on-course bet, be of an amount equal to 5 per cent. of the amount staked, and
(b ) if it is not an on-course bet, be of an amount equal to 6 per cent. of the amount staked.
(3) Paragraph (c ) of subsection (1) above applies to any track in respect of which there is for the time being in force a track betting licence granted under Schedule 3 to the Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Act 1963 , and to any track which the Commissioners see fit to treat for the purposes of that paragraph as if it were such a track.
2 Payment and recovery of general betting duty.
(1) The general betting duty in respect of any bet shall, without prejudice to any regulations made under paragraph 2 of Schedule 1 to this Act, be due on the making of the bet, and shall be paid—
(a ) in the case of a bet with a bookmaker, and without prejudice to subsection (2) below, by the bookmaker;
(b ) in the case of a bet made as mentioned in section 1(1)(b ) of this Act, by the Horserace Totalisator Board or other person providing the facilities by means of which the bet is made;
(c ) in the case of such a bet made by means of a totalisator as is mentioned in section 1(1)(c ) of this Act, by the operator.
(2) The general betting duty chargeable on any bet made with a bookmaker shall be recoverable jointly and severally from all or any of the following persons—
(a ) that bookmaker;
(b ) the holder of the bookmaker's permit or betting office licence relating to the business in the course of which, or the premises at which, the bet was made;
(c ) any person responsible for the management of that business or those premises;
(d ) where the bookmaker is a company, any director of that company.
3 Allowance for hedging bets.
(1) Where it is shown to the satisfaction of the Commissioners—
(a ) that a bookmaker has laid off the whole or any part of an on-course bet made with him by making an on-course bet (in this section called a ‘hedging’ bet), being a dutiable bet made in the course of the same meeting, and on the same contingency, as the first-mentioned bet, and
(b ) that both the bookmaker making, and the person accepting, the hedging bet have complied with such conditions as the Commissioners think fit to impose for the protection of the revenue,
the first-mentioned bet shall, up to the amount staked by the hedging bet, be exempt from general betting duty, and the Commissioners shall remit or repay duty accordingly.
(2) In giving relief under subsection (1) above, in no circumstances may any part of the amount staked by a hedging bet be brought into account more than once.
(3) In subsection (1) above, ‘dutiable bet’ means a bet to which section 1(1) of this Act applies.
4 Bets on more than one contingency.
4. For the purposes of general betting duty, where a person bets on more than one contingency on the terms that, in the event of his bet being successful in respect of one contingency, his stake on the bet, or his winnings in respect of that contingency, or both, are to provide the stake in respect of another contingency, then, unless he makes his bet on both or all of those contingencies at the same time and on the terms that both his original stake and the whole of his winnings in respect of any of those contingencies are to be the stake in respect of any other contingency on which the bet is made—
5 Calculation of stake.
5. The aggregate amount paid by or debited to the account of the bettor for or on account of or in connection with any bet chargeable with general betting duty shall be treated for the purposes of that duty as his stake on the bet, notwithstanding that his winnings (if any) are to be computed on part only of that amount, or that part of it is not to be returned to him in the event of his winning, and no deduction shall be made for other benefits secured by the bettor in paying that amount, or for the expenses of any person on account of the duty or otherwise, or for any other matter.
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 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 ) of this Act.
(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 and the next two following sections, except in their application to coupon betting,—
(a ) subject to paragraph (b ) below and to section 12(3) of this Act, where payments are made for the chance of winning any money or money's worth on terms under which the payors 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—
7 Amount of pool betting duty.
(1) The amount of the pool betting duty shall be equal to 3313 per cent. of the aggregate of—
(a ) the amount of the stake money paid, and
(b ) the expenses and profits described in subsection (3) below (but subject to subsection (4) below).
(2) 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.
(3) 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 (4) below) chargeable by virtue of subsection (1)(b ) above except in so far as the promoter of the betting proves the contrary.
(4) There shall be excepted from any charge to duty by virtue of subsection (1)(b ) or subsection (2) above 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, in the case of bets made by means of a totalisator, by the operator and, in the case of other bets, by the...
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