Finance Act 1993

16 Small-prize machines.U.K.

(1)The Betting and Gaming Duties Act 1981 shall be amended as follows.

(2)In section 21 (gaming machine licences) in subsection (1) (licence required for machine other than a two-penny machine) for “a two-penny machine” there shall be substituted “ an excepted machine ”.

(3)In that section the following subsection shall be inserted after subsection (3)—

“(3A)For the purposes of this section an excepted machine is—

(a)a two-penny machine, or

(b)a five-penny machine which is a small-prize machine.”

(4)In section 22 (charge to duty)—

(a)in subsection (1) for the words from “by reference” to the end of the subsection there shall be substituted “ in accordance with section 23 below ”;

F1(b). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

F1(5). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(6)For subsection (4) of section 25 (meaning of “gaming machine”) there shall be substituted the following subsections—

“(4)Subject to subsection (5) below, for the purposes of determining whether a machine is a gaming machine it is immaterial whether it is capable of being played by only one person at a time, or is capable of being played by more than one person.

(5)For the purposes of sections 21 to 24 above a machine (the actual machine) which two or more persons can play simultaneously (whether or not participating with one another in the same game) shall, instead of being treated as one machine, be treated as if it were a number of machines (accountable machines) equal to the number of persons who can play the actual machine simultaneously.

(6)Subsection (5) above does not apply to a machine which is a two-penny machine, or is both a small-prize machine and a five-penny machine.

(7)If the actual machine is a small-prize machine but not a five-penny machine, the accountable machines shall be taken to be small-prize machines which are not five-penny machines.

(8)If the actual machine is not a small-prize machine, the accountable machines shall be taken not to be small-prize machines, and in such a case—

(a)if the actual machine is a five-penny machine, the accountable machines shall be taken to be five-penny machines;

(b)if the actual machine is not a five-penny machine, the accountable machines shall be taken not to be five-penny machines.

(9)For the purposes of subsection (5) above the number of persons who can play a particular machine simultaneously shall be determined by reference to the number of individual playing positions provided on the machine.”

(7)In section 26(2) (interpretation) the following definition shall be inserted after the definition of “two-penny machine”—

““five-penny machine” means a gaming machine which can only be played by the insertion into the machine of a coin or coins of a denomination, or aggregate denomination, not exceeding 5p;”.

F2(8). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(9)This section shall apply in relation to licences for any period beginning on or after 1st November 1993.