§ Order of the Day for the House to be put into Committee read.
§ Moved, That the House do resolve itself into Committee.—(Lord Hamilton of Dalzell.)
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.
§ House in Committee accordingly:
1489§ [THE EARL OF DONOUGHMORE in the Chair.]
§ Clause 1:
§ Betting Act, 1853, not to apply to racecourses.
§ 1.—(1) Nothing contained in the Betting Act, 1853, shall apply to any approved racecourse or any act dons thereon on the days on which races take place thereon.
§
(2) Notwithstanding any rule of law or enactment to the contrary, it shall be lawful on any approved racecourse, and whether in a building or not,—
(b) for the Board and any person authorised by them to operate, in accordance with the provisions of this Act, a totalisator on days when horse races take place on the racecourse;
§ Provided that nothing in this subsection shall be taken to imply that the Board, or any person authorised by the Board, are entitled, in the exercise of the powers conferred by this subsection, to infringe in any manner the rights of any other persons in or over any land or any right of property.
§
(3) For the purposes of this Act—
(b) the expression "approved racecourse" means any ground used for the purpose of a racecourse for racing exclusively with horses, and any ground adjacent thereto, in respect of which ground, or adjacent ground, there is in force a certificate of approval issued under this Act.
§ LORD DESBOROUGH moved, in subsection (1), before "races," to insert "horse races but no other." The noble Lord said: I have a few Amendments down on the Paper, but they are chiefly drafting, and intended to make the Bill clearer. Their object is to confine the Bill, and to make it quite clear that it is confined, to horse racing, because there is a certain number of courses which are used for other purposes—for cross-country runs for example. It is not proposed to stop those athletic sports taking place on these racecourses, but it is intended to make it clear that they are quite independent of the totalisator, which must not be used in connection with any of these events. I beg to move.
§
Amendment moved—
Page 1, line 8, after ("which") insert ("horse races but no other").—(Lord Desborough.)
§ On Question, Amendment agreed to.
1490§ LORD DESBOROUGH moved, in paragraph (b) of subsection (2), after "Act," to insert "and for the purpose of effecting betting transactions on horse races only," The noble Lord said: I beg to move the Amendment which stands in my name on the Paper.
§
Amendment moved—
Page 1, line 17, after ("Act") insert ("and for the purpose of effecting betting transactions on horse races only").—(Lord Desborough.)
§ On Question, Amendment agreed to.
§ LORD DESBOROUGH moved, in paragraph (b) of subsection (2), after "races," to insert "but no other races." The noble Lord said: This is a consequential Amendment and I beg to move.
§
Amendment moved—
Page 1, line 18, after ("races") insert ("but no other races").—(Lord Desborough.)
§ On Question, Amendment agreed to.
§ LORD DESBOROUGH moved, in paragraph (b) of subsection (3), to leave out exclusively." The noble Lord said: This is also a consequential Amendment.
§
Amendment moved—
Page 2, line 13, leave out ("exclusively").—(Lord Desborough.)
§ On Question, Amendment agreed to.
§ Clause 1, as amended, agreed to.
§ Clause 2 [Establishment of authority]:
§
LORD DESBOROUGH moved, to insert the following new subsection:—
(10) No act or proceeding of the Board shall be questioned on account of any vacancy in their number or on account of the appointment of any member having been defective.
§ The noble Lord said: This is a common form subsection and I beg to move.
§
Amendment moved—
Page 3, line 15, at end insert the said new subsection.—(Lord Desborough.)
§ On Question, Amendment agreed to.
§ Clause 2, as amended, agreed to.
§ Clause 3:
§ Powers and duties of Board.
§ 3. The Racecourse Betting Control Board—
- (3) shall establish a fund known as the totalisator fund, into which shall be paid all moneys derived from the opera-
1491 tion of totalisators on any approved racecourse, and any other moneys received by the Board; - (4) may, for the purposes of this Act, borrow money upon the security of such fund or otherwise, and lend money to persons authorised by the Board to operate totalisators;
§
LORD DESBOROUGH moved, after paragraph (2), to insert as a new paragraph:—
(3) Shall distribute or cause to be distributed the whole of the moneys staked by means of a totalisator on any race among the persons winning bets made by means of the totalisator on that race, after deducting or causing to be deducted such percentage of those moneys as the Board may from time to time determine either generally or with respect to any particular racecourse.
§ The noble Lord said: This is a consequential Amendment, and I move to insert the words as printed on the Paper.
§
Amendment moved—
Page 3, line 37, at end insert the said new paragraph.—(Lord Desborough.)
§ On Question, Amendment agreed to.
§ LORD DESBOROUGH moved, in paragraph (3), to leave out "all moneys derived from the operation of totalisators on any approved racecourse" and insert "the percentage deducted as aforesaid of moneys staked by means of the totalisator." The noble Lord said: This is a drafting Amendment, and I beg to move.
§
Amendment moved—
Page 3, line 39, leave out from ("paid") to ("and") in line 41, and insert the said new words.—(Lord Desborough.)
§ On Question, Amendment agreed to.
§ LORD DESBOROUGH moved, in paragraph (4), to leave out "to persons authorised by the Board to operate totalisators," and insert "for the purpose of setting up or operating totalisators in accordance with the provisions of this Act." The noble Lord said: This, again, is consequential. I beg to move.
§
Amendment moved—
Page 4, line 3, leave out from ("money") to the end of paragraph (4) and insert the said new words.—(Lord Desborough.)
§ On Question, Amendment agreed to.
§ Clause 3, as amended, agreed to.
1492§ Clause 4:
§ Prohibition of betting transactions with persons under seventeen.
§ (3) In the case of a betting transaction effected by means of a totalisator with a person apparently under the age of seventeen years the transaction shall be deemed to have been had with the persons having the management of the approved racecourse upon which the totalisator was being operated and not with any other person.
§ LORD HAMILTON OF DALZELL moved, in subsection (3), after "shall," to insert "for the purposes of this section." The noble Lord said: This is also a purely drafting Amendment. Its object is to tack subsection (3) more firmly on to subsection (1) which lays down the penalty for betting with persons under the age of seventeen years. It is only to make the clause clearer.
§
Amendment moved—
("Page 4, line 42, after ("shall") insert ("for the purposes of this section").—(Lord Hamilton of Dalzell.)
§ On Question, Amendment agreed to.
§ Clause 4, as amended, agreed to.
§ Remaining clause agreed to.