HC Deb 28 April 1993 vol 223 cc972-3

'. For section 4(1) of the 1976 Act (private lotteries) there shall be substituted— (1) In this Act "private lottery" means a lottery in Great Britain which is promoted—

  1. (a) for members of one society established and conducted for purposes not connected with gaming, betting or lotteries;
  2. (b) for persons all of whom work on the same premises; or
  3. (c) for persons all of whom reside on the same premises, and which satisfies the conditions in subsections (1A) and (1B) below.

(1A) The lottery must be promoted by persons each of whom—

  1. (a) is one of the persons for whom the lottery is promoted; and
  2. (b) in the case of a lottery promoted for the members of a society, is authorised in writing by the governing body of the society to promote the lottery.

(1B) The sale of tickets or chances in the lottery must be confined—

  1. (a) to the persons for whom the lottery is promoted; and
  2. (b) in the case of a lottery promoted for the members of a society, to any other persons on the society's premises.—[Mr. Peter Lloyd.]

Brought up, and read the First time.

The Minister of State, Home Office (Mr. Peter Lloyd)

I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.

Madam Speaker

With this it will be convenient to discuss also Government amendment No. 192.

Mr. Lloyd

In Committee, the hon. Member for Liverpool, Broadgreen (Mrs. Kennedy) argued persuasively that where a society was holding a private lottery on its own premises any guests present should be allowed to buy tickets in the same way as they can join in a game of bingo or use gaming machines. I agreed to introduce Government amendments to achieve that, and this is what new clause 11 and amendment No. 192 do.

4.15 pm
Mr. Pendry

I agree with the Minister that my hon. Friend the Member for Broadgreen was very persuasive in Committee. She made sure that we all recognised the nonsense of the law as it stood and that in this particular area many of us flout the law ourselves almost every week of the year in the clubs that we frequent—Labour clubs in our case, of course. So we certainly accept the Minister's response in meeting the particular point that my hon. Friend made.

Mrs. Jane Kennedy (Liverpool, Broadgreen)

I thank the Minister and my hon. Friend the Member for Stalybridge and Hyde (Mr. Pendry) for the courteous way in which they have referred to the contribution that I made on this point. I thank the Minister also for listening to the arguments that were put and for accepting and incorporating them in the Bill. On behalf of the 6 million members of the Club and Institute Union and 10 million members of private clubs, some of whom I see here today, I wish to say thank you.

Question put and agreed to.

Clause read a Second time, and added to the Bill.

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