Betting and Gaming Duties Act 1981

Bingo duty

17 Bingo duty

(1) A duty of excise, to be known as bingo duty, shall be charged on the playing of bingo in Great Britain except in the cases specified in Part I of Schedule 3 to this Act.

(2) Bingo duty shall be charged in respect of bingo played in a particular week; and the amount of the duty shall be—

(a) 10 per cent, of the total of the money taken by or on behalf of the promoter in that week as payment by players for their cards, plus

(b) (subject to section 19(1) below) one ninth of the amount (if any) by which that total, after deduction of the 10 per cent, chargeable under paragraph (a) above, is exceeded by the total value of the prizes won in that week's bingo.

(3) For the purposes of this section, a player's " cards " are the sets of numbers or symbols (in whatever form or lay-out) with which he plays bingo, matching them against calls made by the house ; and a player pays for a card when he gives money in exchange for, or for the use of, a particular card, whether it is appropriated to a particular game or can be appropriated by the player to a game of his choice.

18 Payment and recovery of bingo duty

(1) Bingo duty shall be paid by the promoter of the bingo.

(2) Bingo duty shall be recoverable jointly and severally from all or any of the following persons—

(a) the promoter;

(b) any person who took money as payment by players for cards or paid prizes to players ;

(c) any person who was responsible for the management of the premises on which bingo was played ;

(d) where any person within paragraph (a), (b) or (c) above is a company, any director of the company.

19 Play in more than one place

(1) Where bingo is promoted at one place and, for the purpose of a particular game, it is combined with bingo played at another place and promoted by another person, so that the players at both places share in the chance of winning a prize contributed partly by one promoter and partly by the other, then for the purposes of the charge to bingo duty under section 17(2)(b) above

(a) as against the promoter of the bingo at the place where the prize is won there shall be counted so much only of the value of the prize as represents his contribution, and

(b) so much of the value of the prize as represents the contribution of the other promoter shall be counted as a prize won at bingo promoted by him ;

and where the prize is provided wholly by or on behalf of one of the promoters concerned, its whole value shall be counted against him under section 17(2)(b), wherever it is won.

(2) It shall not be lawful for a game of bingo, being bingo which is chargeable with bingo duty and is promoted at a place in Great Britain, to be combined as mentioned in subsection (1) above with other bingo played elsewhere than in Great Britain, except where the other bingo is played in Northern Ireland or the Isle of Man and is chargeable, under an Act of the Parliament of Northern Ireland or, as the case may be, Tynwald, with duty corresponding to bingo duty and at a rate not less than that which is chargeable under section 17 above.

20 Supplementary provisions as to bingo duty

(1) The provisions of Part II of Schedule 3 to this Act (supplementary provisions as to bingo duty) shall have effect.

(2) In sections 17 to 19 above and in Schedule 3 to this Act—

• " bingo " includes any version of that game, by whatever name called;

• " Great Britain" includes the territorial waters of the United Kingdom adjacent to Great Britain ;

• " money " includes any token, voucher or other object given by a player in exchange for cards and recognised for the purpose of the exchange to represent a particular sum of money;

• " prize" means anything won or to be won at bingo, whether money or something else having a value, and " value " and " paid ", in relation to prizes, shall be construed accordingly;

• " the promoter ", in relation to bingo, means the person to whom the players look for the payment of prizes, and " promote" and " promotion" shall be construed accordingly; and

• "week" means a period of seven days beginning with Monday.

(3) In proceedings relating to bingo duty under the customs and excise Acts an averment in any process that a particular game is a version of bingo shall, until the contrary is proved, be sufficient evidence that it is so.