PART IIBETTING
Special provisions with respect to young persons
Young persons prohibited from licensed offices50.
(1)
A person under the age of 18 shall not be admitted to a licensed office.
(2)
A licensed bookmaker himself or by his servant or agent, or such servant or agent, shall not allow a person under the age of 18 to be in a licensed office.
(3)
Any person acting in contravention of paragraph (1) or (2) shall be guilty of an offence.
(4)
In any proceedings for an offence by reason of a contravention of paragraph (1) or (2) it shall be a defence—
(a)
for the licensed bookmaker to prove that the contravention took place without his consent or connivance and that he exercised due diligence to prevent it; or
(b)
for the licensed bookmaker or his servant or agent to prove that he had good reason to believe that the person under the age of 18 had attained that age.
(5)
Nothing in this Article shall apply with respect to a person under the age of 18 who is a person who has attained the upper limit of compulsory school age as determined under Article 36(2) of the M1 Education and Libraries (Northern Ireland) Order 1972 and is apprenticed to the licensed bookmaker under a contract in writing.
(6)
Where a person under the age of 18 who is found in a licensed office is apprenticed to the licensed bookmaker, that person or the bookmaker shall at the request of a constable produce the contract of apprenticeship within 7 days of the request to, or in accordance with reasonable directions of, the constable for examination, and if it is not so produced that person or, as the case may be, the bookmaker shall be guilty of an offence.