(1)With respect to licences for any period beginning on or after 1st October 1987, in the Betting and Gaming Duties Act 1981 (in this section referred to as “the 1981 Act”) for subsection (3) of section 21 (which specifies the periods for which licences may be granted) there shall be substituted the following subsection—
“(3)A gaming machine licence may be a whole-year, a half-year or a quarter-year licence and shall be granted for a period of twelve, six or three months beginning with the first day of any month.”
(2)In subsection (3) of section 26 of the 1981 Act (which provides that if one or more gaming machines are made available on any premises in such a way that they can be played, any gaming machine anywhere on the premises shall be treated as provided for gaming) after the word “and” there shall be inserted “subject to subsection (3A) below”.
(3)After subsection (3) of the said section 26 there shall be inserted the following subsection—
“(3A)The Commissioners may by regulations make provision for the purpose of enabling spare gaming machines to be kept on premises for use in the case of the breakdown of other gaming machines on those premises; and such regulations may provide that, in such circumstances and subject to such conditions as may be specified in the regulations, a gaming machine on any premises which is not made available as mentioned in subsection (3) above, or is not in a state in which it can be played, shall not be treated by virtue of that subsection as provided for gaming on those premises.”
(4)With effect from 1st October 1987, in Schedule 4 to the 1981 Act at the beginning of paragraph 4 (months preceding and following licences for summer months) there shall be inserted the words “Subject to subparagraph (2) below” and at the end of that paragraph there shall be added the following sub-paragraph—
“(2)Sub-paragraph (1) above shall not apply in relation to the provision of a machine on any premises—
(a)during March of any year, if any person has become entitled to a repayment of duty under paragraph 11 below on the surrender of a licence in respect of those premises or any machine on those premises during the preceding February,
(b)during October of any year, if any person has become entitled to such a repayment on the surrender of such a licence during the preceding March, June or September.”
(5)With respect to the surrender of licences on or after 1st October 1987, in Schedule 4 to the 1981 Act, in sub-paragraph (1) of paragraph 11 (surrender of licences) for the words from “be entitled” onwards there shall be substituted “be entitled to a repayment of duty, in respect of each complete month in the unexpired period of the licence, of an amount equal—
(a)in the case of a whole-year licence, to one-twelfth of the duty paid on the grant of the licence, and
(b)in the case of a half-year licence, to one-twelfth of the duty that would have been payable on the grant of the licence if it had been a whole-year licence.”