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1. This Act may be cited as the Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Act.

2.- (1) In this Act-

"approved club" has the meaning assigned to it by subsection (2) of section 40;

"approved racecourse" means any racecourse in respect of which a licence is granted under the Jamaica Racing Commission Act;

"authorized person" means a constable or any person authorized by the Commission to carry out any function in relation to the enforcement or application of this Act;

"betting agency permit" has the meaning assigned to it by subsection (2) of section 21;

"betting office licence" has the meaning assigned to it by subsection (1) of section 21;

'betting transaction" includes the collection or payment of winnings on a bet and any transaction in which one or more of the parties is acting as a Bookmaker;

"bookmaker" means any person who-

1. whether on his own account or as servant or agent of any other person, carries on, whether occasionally or regularly, the business of receiving or negotiating bets at declared odds; or
2. by way of business in any manner holds himself out, or permits himself to be held out, as a person who receives or negotiates bets at declared odds,so however, that a person shall not be deemed to be a bookmaker by reason only of the fact that he operates, or is employed in operating, a totalisator;

"bookmaker's permit" has the meaning assigned to it by subsection (1) of section 19;

"Commission" means the Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Commission established by section 4;

"declared odds" means declared odds within the meaning of section 3;

"functions" includes powers and duties;

"game of chance" includes a game of chance and skill combined and a pretended game of chance or of chance and skill combined, but does not include any athletic game or sport;

"gaming" means the playing of a game of chance for winnings in money or money's worth;

"horse" includes mare, gelding, colt and filly;

"Jamaica Racing Commission" means the Jamaica Racing Commission established by the Jamaica, Racing Commission Act;

"licensed betting office" means premises in respect of which a betting office licence is for the time being in force;

"licensed track" means a track in respect of which a track betting licence issued by the Commission pursuant to section 24 is for the time being in force;

"licensee" in relation to a licensed betting office, means the holder of the betting office licence for the time being in force in respect of that office;

"lottery" includes any game, method, or device whereby money or money's worth is distributed or allotted in any manner depending upon or to be determined by chance or lot, held, drawn, exercised or managed whether in Jamaica or elsewhere;

"lottery ticket" includes any paper, figure, writing symbol or other article whatsoever, which either expressly or tacitly entitles or purports to entitle the holder or any other person to receive any money or money's worth on the happening of any event or contingency connected with a lottery;

"money" includes a cheque, banknote, postal order and money order;

"native bred" means a horse sired and foaled in Jamaica;

"operator" means, in relation to any pool betting, the person to whom the persons making the bets look for the payment of their winnings, if any;

"player", in relation to a game of chance, includes any person taking part in the game against whom other persons taking part in the game stake, play or bet;

"pool betting" has the meaning assigned to it by section 3;

"pool betting business" means business involving the receiving or negotiating of bets made by way of pool betting;

"premises" includes any place and any vessel;

"racing promoter" means a person who with the approval of the Jamaica Racing Commission promotes horse-racing at an approved racecourse;

"sanctioned pool betting""sanctioned pool betting" means pool betting by means of facilities provided-

1. by a racing promoter-

1. on an approved racecourse; or
2. on premises approved by the Commission pursuant to section 24; or

1. by the occupier of a licensed track on that track

"television broadcasting" has the same meaning as in the Broadcasting and Radio Re-diffusion Act;

"totalisator" means the contrivance for betting known as the totalisator or pari mutuel, or any other machine or instrument of like nature, whether mechanically operated or not;

"track" means premises on which races of any description, athletic sports or other sporting events take place;

"track betting licence" has the meaning ascribed to it by section 24;

"unlawful gaming" has the meaning ascribed to it by subsection (1) of section 38;

"winnings" includes winnings of any kind and any reference to the amount or to the payment of winnings shall be construed accordingly.

(2) For the purpose of this Act a place shall be deemed to be "used" for a purpose, if it is used for that purpose even on one occasion only.

(3) Where during any period a track is, with the consent of the occupier, under the management of some person other than the occupier that other person shall be deemed during that period to be the occupier, and for the purposes of this subsection the expression "track" includes an approved racecourse.

(4) For the purposes of Part VII-

1. references to printing shall be construed as including references to writing and other modes of representing or reproducing words in a visible form; and
2. documents or other matters shall be deemed to be distributed if they are distributed to persons or places whether within or outside Jamaica, and the expression "distribution" shall be construed accordingly.

(5) For the purposes of this Act a person who writes or otherwise records bets shall-

1. be deemed to be a person who receives bets; and
2. be deemed to be performing the functions of a bookmaker on his own behalf unless he proves that in receiving bets he is acting on behalf of a person named and identified by him.

3.- (1) For the purposes of this Act, any bet shall be deemed to be made by way of pool betting unless it is a bet at declared odds, and, in particular, bets shall be held to be made by way of pool betting whenever a number of persons make bets-

1. on terms that the winnings of such of those persons as are winners shall be, or be a share of, or be determined by reference to, the stake money paid or agreed to be paid by those persons, whether the bets are made by means of a totalisator, or by filling up and returning coupons or other printed or written forms, or otherwise howsoever; or
2. on terms that the winnings of such of those persons as are winners shall be, or shall include, an amount (not determined by reference to the stake money paid or agreed to be paid by those persons) which is divisible in any proportions among such of those persons as are winners; or
3. on the basis that the winners or their winnings shall, to any extent, be at the discretion of the operator or some other person.

(2) A bet is a bet at declared odds within the meaning of this section only if each of the persons making it knows or can know, at the time he makes it, the amount he will win, except in so far as that amount is to depend on the result of the event or events betted on, or on any such event taking place or producing a result, or on the numbers taking part in any such event, or on the time when his bet is received by any person with or through whom it is made or, subject to section 26, on the starting prices or totalisator odds for any such event, or on there being totalisator odds on any such event.

In this subsection the expression "starting prices" in relation to any event means the odds ruling at the scene of the event immediately before the start, and the expression "totalisator odds" means the odds paid on bets made by means of a totalisator at the scene of the event.

(3) A bet made with or through a person carrying on a business of receiving or negotiating bets, being a bet made in the course of that business, shall be deemed not to be a bet at declared odds within the meaning of this section if the winnings of the person by whom it is so made consist or may consist in whole or in part of something other than money.

(4) Where payments are made for the chance of winning any money or money's worth on terms under which the payers have a power of selection which may (directly or indirectly) determine the winner, then, for the purposes of this Act, those payments shall be treated as bets notwithstanding that the power is not exercised.

(5) Where a person carries on a business of receiving or negotiating bets and there is or has been issued in connection with that business any advertisement or other publication calculated to encourage in persons making bets, of any description with or through him a belief that the bets are made on the basis mentioned in paragraph (c) of subsection (1), then any bets of that description subsequently made with or through him in the course of that business shall be deemed for the purposes of this Act to be made on that basis.

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