Betting and Gaming Duties Act 1981

9 Prohibitions for protection of revenue

(1) Any person who—

(a) conducts in Great Britain any business or agency for the negotiation, receipt or transmission of bets to which this section applies, or

(b) knowingly issues, circulates or distributes in Great Britain, or has in his possession for that purpose, any advertisement or other document inviting or otherwise relating to the making of such bets, or

(c) being a bookmaker in Great Britain, makes or offers to make any such bet with a bookmaker outside Great Britain,

shall be guilty of an offence.

(2) Except as mentioned in subsection (3) below, this section applies to—

(a) all bets made by way of pool betting or coupon betting unless—

(i) in the case of bets made by means of a totalisator, the totalisator is situated in Great Britain,

(ii) in the case of bets made otherwise than by means of a totalisator, the promoter of the betting is in Great Britain; and

(b) all bets made with a bookmaker outside Great Britain (whether or not made by way of pool betting or coupon betting).

(3) This section does not apply—

(a) to any bet—

(i) made by way of pool betting or coupon betting and otherwise than by means of a totalisator, or

(ii) made with a bookmaker otherwise than by way of pool betting or coupon betting,

where the promoter of the pool betting or coupon betting or, as the case may be, the bookmaker is in Northern Ireland or the Isle of Man and the bet is such as to be chargeable with a duty imposed by or under an Act of the Parliament of Northern Ireland or, as the case may be, of Tynwald which corresponds to, and is chargeable on the bet at a rate not less than the appropriate rate of, pool betting duty or, as the case may be, general betting duty ; or

(b) to any bet made by means of a totalisator situated in a country outside Great Britain on a horse race taking place in that country; or

(c) to any bet in respect of an event taking place outside Great Britain made by a bookmaker in Great Britain—

(i) by means of a totalisator situated outside Great Britain, or

(ii) with a bookmaker outside Great Britain,

if it is shown that bets in respect of that event have been made in Great Britain with the first-mentioned bookmaker by other persons.

(4) A person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable—

(a) on summary conviction to a penalty of the prescribed sum or, in the case of a second or subsequent conviction, to a penalty of the prescribed sum or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or to both, or

(b) on conviction on indictment to a penalty of any amount or, in the case of a second or subsequent conviction, to a penalty of any amount or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or to both.

(5) A person who makes or tries to make a bet, or who gets of tries to get any advertisement or other document given. or sent to him, shall not be guilty of an offence by reason of his thereby procuring or inciting some other person to commit, or aiding or abetting the commission of, an offence under this section.

(6) Section 6(3) above shall have effect for the purposes of subsections (2)(a) and (5) above (except in their application to coupon betting) as it has effect for the purposes of sections 6 to 8 above.