Betting and Lotteries Act 1934

JurisdictionUK Non-devolved
Citation1934 c. 58


Betting and Lotteries Act, 1934

(24 & 25 Geo. 5.) CHAPTER 58.

An Act to amend the law with respect to betting on tracks where sporting events take place, including the law with respect to totalisators on horse racecourses; to authorise, subject to restrictions, the establishment of totalisators on dog racecourses; to prohibit betting on tracks with young persons and pari mutuel betting except by authorised totalisators; to amend the law with respect to lotteries and certain prize competitions; and for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid.

[16th November 1934]

Be it enacted by the King'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:—

I Betting.

Part I.

Betting.

S-1 Restriction of betting on tracks.

1 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 any year; nor

(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 he is not the occupier of the track, the 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 knowledge.

S-2 Restriction of bookmaking on tracks.

2 Restriction of bookmaking on tracks.

(1) Bookmaking shall not be carried on on any track unless the occupier of the track is the holder of a licence in force under this Part of this Act authorising the provision of betting facilities on that track:

Provided that the foregoing provisions of this subsection shall not apply in relation to—

(a ) anything done on any track which is an approved horse racecourse on any day on which that track is used only for the purpose of horse races; or

(b ) anything done on any track on any day if—

(i) during the year in which that day falls bookmaking has not been carried on on that track on more than seven previous days; and

(ii) notice of the intention to permit bookmaking on that track on that day has been given by post not less than seven clear days beforehand by the occupier of the track to the chief officer of police.

(2) Bookmaking shall not be carried on on any licensed track on any day not being one of the days appointed in accordance with this Part of this Act as the days on which betting facilities may be provided on licensed tracks in the licensing area in which the track is situate.

(3) If bookmaking is carried on by any person on any track on any day in contravention of this section, that person, and, if he is not the occupier of the track, the 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 knowledge.

S-3 Restriction of pari mutuel or pool betting.

3 Restriction of pari mutuel or pool betting.

(1) No pari mutuel or pool betting business shall be carried on on any track, except—

(a ) on an approved horse racecourse by, or by authority of, the Racecourse Betting Control Board under the Racecourse Betting Act, 1928 , as amended by this Act, or

(b ) on a licensed track being a dog racecourse, in accordance with the provisions of this Act which relate to totalisators on dog racecourses:

Provided that nothing in this subsection shall prohibit a person from receiving or negotiating bets on an approved horse racecourse with a view to those bets being made by means of a totalisator lawfully operated on that course.

(2) Save as is permitted by the preceding subsection, no person shall use any premises whether situate on a track or not, or cause or knowingly permit any such premises to be used, as a place where persons resorting thereto may effect pari mutuel or pool betting transactions.

(3) Every person who contravenes any of the provisions of this section shall be guilty of an offence.

S-4 Restriction of betting on dog racecourses.

4 Restriction of betting on dog racecourses.

(1) Betting by way of bookmaking or by means of a totalisator shall not take place on any day on a track being a dog racecourse, in connection with more than eight dog races, and betting by way of bookmaking or by means of a totalisator on the results of dog races shall not take place on any day on such a track as aforesaid except during one continuous period not exceeding four hours:

Provided that, in relation to any of the four special appointed days fixed in any year by the licensing authority in accordance with this section, the foregoing provisions of this subsection shall have effect as if there were therein substituted for the word ‘eight’ the word ‘sixteen’ and for the words ‘one continuous period not exceeding four hours’ the words ‘a period or periods not exceeding eight hours in the aggregate.’

(2) If bookmaking is carried on or a totalisator is operated by any person on any track in contravention of this section, that person, and if he is not the occupier of the track, the 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 knowledge.

(3) The licensing authority, when fixing the appointed days for any year in accordance with this Part of this Act, shall also fix four of those days (which four days shall be the same for the whole of their licensing area) as the special appointed days for the purposes of subsection (1) of this section.

S-5 Licensing authorities.

5 Licensing authorities.

(1) Subject as hereinafter provided, the councils of administrative counties and the councils of county boroughs shall, in relation to their respective areas, be the authorities empowered to grant licences under this Part of this Act authorising the provision of betting facilities on tracks:

Provided that—

(a ) any such council may delegate their functions under this Part of this Act to a committee consisting of members of the council; and

(b ) any two or more such councils may combine in delegating their functions under this Part of this Act to a joint committee consisting of members of the constituent councils; and

(c ) a county council may delegate their functions under this Part of this Act to the standing joint committee of quarter sessions and of the county council appointed under section thirty of the Local Government Act, 1888 .

(2) If a county council elect under the foregoing provisions of this section to delegate their functions under this Part of this Act to the standing joint committee, it shall be the duty of that committee to discharge those functions so long as the delegation is in force.

(3) Where functions under this Part of this Act are delegated to a committee or joint committee, the number and term of office of the members thereof shall, in the ease of a committee or joint committee specially appointed for the purpose, be fixed by the appointing council or councils, and, subject to the provisions of this Part of this Act and to any directions given by the appointing council or council, the procedure of the committee or joint committee shall be such as they may themselves determine.

(4) Any expenses incurred in the execution of this Part of this Act by a standing joint committee shall be defrayed by the council of the county, and any expenses so incurred by any other joint committee shall be defrayed by the appointing councils in such shares as may be agreed.

(5) A standing joint committee to whom the functions of a county council under this Part of this Act are delegated under this section shall have such powers as are conferred on councils of counties and county boroughs by paragraph (b ) of the proviso to subsection (1) of this section, and accordingly references in that paragraph and in subsections (3) and (4) of this section to a council or councils shall be construed as including references to such a standing joint committee as aforesaid.

(6) Section two hundred and seventy-four of the Local Government Act, 1933 , shall not apply in relation to the functions of a county council under this Part of this Act.

S-6 Notices of, and procedure with respect to, applications for licences.

6 Notices of, and procedure with respect to, applications for licences.

(1) Every licensing authority shall, as soon as may be after the passing of this Act, and may subsequently from time to time, fix the dates on which they will entertain applications from the occupiers of tracks within their licensing area for the grant of licences, and shall cause information as to the dates so fixed to be given to any person who asks for it.

The dates first so fixed shall be such as will enable licences to be granted so as to take effect on the first day of July, nineteen hundred and thirty-five.

(2) No application for a licence shall be entertained unless, at least two months before the date on which the application is made, the applicant has given to the licensing...

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