BETTING (AMENDMENT) ACT 2015

• “(5) A person shall be guilty of an offence if, in contravention of subsections (2) or (3), he—

  • (a) carries on any trade, profession or business (other than bookmaking) in registered premises, or

  • (b) permits the use of any such premises for the purpose of carrying on any trade, profession or business (other than bookmaking).”,

and

• (c) by the insertion of the following subsection:

• “(6) A person guilty of an offence under subsection (5) shall be liable on summary conviction to a class B fine or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 months or both.”.

25. Amendment of section 23 of Principal Act

25. Section 23 of the Principal Act is amended—

• (a) in subsection (1), by the substitution of “bookmaker, remote bookmaker or remote betting intermediary” for “licensed bookmaker”,

• (b) in subsection (2), by the deletion of the words “and officers of An Post or Bord Telecom Éireann entering such premises in the course of their duty as such officers”,

• (c) by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (3):

• “(3) A person who contravenes this section shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable—

  • (a) on summary conviction to a class A fine or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or both, or

  • (b) on indictment to a fine not exceeding €50,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years or both.”,

• (d) by the insertion of the following subsection:

• “(5) In this section ‘betting transaction’ includes—

  • (a) any act done in the course of business by a remote betting intermediary that facilitates the making of a bet by or on behalf of another person, and

  • (b) the creation of a betting account.”.

26. Amendment of section 29 of Principal Act

26. Section 29 of the Principal Act is amended—

• (a) in subsection (1), by the deletion of the words “and officers of An Post or Bord Telecom Éireann entering such premises in the course of their duty as such officers”, and

• (b) in subsection (2), by—

• (i) the substitution of “class E fine” for “fine not exceeding €60”, and

• (ii) the substitution of “class D fine” for “fine not exceeding €125”.

27. Offence of false statement of age

27. The Principal Act is amended by the substitution of the following section for section 31:

“31. (1) A person who has not attained the age of 18 years shall be guilty of an offence if he represents himself to have attained that age with the intention of inducing a licensed bookmaker to accept a bet or enter into a betting transaction.

• (2) A person who has not attained the age of 18 years shall be guilty of an offence if he represents himself to have attained that age with the intention of inducing the owner or occupier of a registered premises to permit the person to enter, or remain on, the premises.

• (3) A person who has not attained the age of 18 years shall be guilty of an offence if he represents himself to have attained that age with the intention of inducing a remote bookmaker or a remote betting intermediary to—

  • (a) accept a bet from the person,

  • (b) permit the person to create an account with the remote bookmaker or remote betting intermediary, as the case may be, or

  • (c) otherwise effect a transaction consisting of the making of a bet by the person, or assist the person to effect a transaction consisting of the making of a bet with any person, by remote means.

• (4) A person who contravenes this section shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable, on summary conviction, to a class E fine.”.

28. Orders against unlicensed bookmakers, remote bookmakers or remote betting intermediaries

28. The Principal Act is amended by the insertion of the following section:

“Unlawful conduct

32A. (1) A person shall not provide any service or facility to a person who contravenes section 2 that—

• (a) will enable the second-mentioned person to have access to or use any internet address or any internet domain (or any particular facility within such domain) for the purpose of the carrying on by the second-mentioned person of a remote bookmaking operation, or

• (b) will enable any other person to have access from the State to any internet address, internet domain or particular facility within such domain for the purpose of that other person’s entering into any transaction (including the making of a bet) with the second-mentioned person in connection with a remote bookmaking operation.

• (2) A person shall not advertise, or cause to be advertised, a remote bookmaking operation carried on by a person who contravenes section 2.

• (3) A person shall not sell or cause to be sold by retail, or otherwise supply or cause to be supplied, to a member of the public a product that bears—

  • (a) the name of a person who contravenes section 2, or

  • (b) any trade description, designation, trademark, emblem, marketing image or logo owned or used by any person in connection with a remote bookmaking operation carried on by a person referred to in paragraph (a).

  Compliance notice

  32B. (1) Where the Revenue Commissioners are satisfied that a person has contravened section 32A, the Revenue Commissioners may serve a notice (in this Act referred to as a ‘compliance notice’) on that person.

• (2) A compliance notice shall—

  • (a) state the grounds for the Revenue Commissioners’ being satisfied that there has been a contravention referred to in subsection (1),

  • (b) for the purpose of ensuring compliance by the person concerned with section 32A, require the person to do or refrain from doing such act or acts as is, or are, specified in the notice by such date as is so specified, and

  • (c) contain information regarding the bringing of an appeal under subsection (5) against the notice, including the manner in which an appeal shall be brought.

• (3) A compliance notice shall not specify a date in accordance with paragraph (b) of subsection (2) that falls on or before the date by which an appeal under subsection (5) shall be brought.

• (4) The Revenue Commissioners may—

  • (a) withdraw a compliance notice at any time, as they consider appropriate, or

  • (b) where no appeal is brought under this section, specify a date extending the period specified in the notice for the purposes of subsection (2) (b), and notify the person in writing accordingly.

• (5) A person may appeal a compliance notice served on him or her under this section to the District Court.

• (6) An appeal under this section shall be brought in the prescribed manner not later than 14 days after the service of the compliance notice concerned.

• (7) The Revenue Commissioners and the appellant concerned shall be entitled to be heard and to adduce evidence at the hearing of an appeal under this section.

• (8) The District Court shall, upon an appeal under this section, do one of the following:

  • (a) affirm the compliance notice concerned;

  • (b) direct the Revenue Commissioners to withdraw the compliance notice concerned.

• (9) The Revenue Commissioners shall comply with a direction under subsection (8).

• (10) A person who fails to comply with a compliance notice by the specified date shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable—

  • (a) on summary conviction, to a class A fine or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or both, or

  • (b) on conviction on indictment, to a fine not exceeding €50,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years or both.

• (11) This section shall not operate to prevent or restrict—

  • (a) the entitlement of any person to bring proceedings for the purpose of securing compliance with this Act by a person, or

  • (b) the bringing or prosecuting of any proceedings for an offence under this Act.

• (12) In this section ‘specified date’ means, in relation to a compliance notice—

  • (a) the date specified in the notice in accordance with paragraph (b) of subsection (2), where no appeal against the notice is brought under this section, or

  • (b) the day falling immediately after the expiration of the period of 7 days from the date on which the District Court so affirms the notice, where an appeal against the notice is brought under subsection (5) and the District Court affirms the notice in accordance with paragraph (a) of subsection (8).”.

29. Service of documents

29. The Principal Act is amended by the insertion of the following section:

“32C. A notice or other document that is required to be served on or given to a person under this Act shall be addressed to the person concerned by name, and may be so served on or given to the person in one of the following ways:

• (a) by delivering it to the person;

• (b) by leaving it at the address at which the person ordinarily resides or, in a case in which an address for service has been furnished, at that address;

• (c) by sending it by post in a prepaid registered letter to the address at which the person ordinarily resides or, in a case in which an address for service has been furnished, to that address; or

• (d) in a case in which an e-mail address for service has been furnished, to that e-mail address.”.

30. Offences by bodies corporate

30. The Principal Act is amended by the insertion of the following section:

“32D. Where an offence under this Act is committed by a body corporate and is proved to have been so committed with the consent or connivance of any person, being a director, manager, secretary or other officer of the body corporate, or a person who was purporting to act in such capacity, that person shall, as well as the body corporate, be guilty of an offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished as if he were guilty of the first-mentioned offence.”.

31. Administrative cooperation

31. The Principal Act is amended by the insertion of the following section:

“32E. (1) (a) The Revenue Commissioners shall inform the Minister for Justice and Equality of any offence under section 1078 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 of which an applicant for a certificate of personal fitness stands convicted, upon receiving a request in writing in that behalf from that Minister of the Government.

• (b) The Revenue Commissioners shall inform a Superintendent of the Garda Síochána to whom an application under section 4 is made of any offence under section 1078 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 of which the person making the application stands convicted, upon receiving a request in writing in that behalf from that Superintendent.

• (c) The Garda Síochána shall provide the Minister for Justice and Equality with all such information as that Minister of the Government may reasonably require for the purposes of the performance by him of functions under this Act, upon receiving a request in writing in that behalf from that Minister of the Government.

• (2) The Minister for Justice and Equality may enter into an arrangement with a foreign statutory body whereby—

  • (a) the Minister for Justice and Equality agrees to furnish to the foreign statutory body information in his possession that is required by the foreign statutory body for the purposes of the performance by it of functions under the law of a place other than the State that are the same as or similar to the functions performed by the Minister for Justice and Equality under this Act, and

  • (b) the foreign statutory body agrees to furnish to the Minister for Justice and Equality information in its possession that is required by the Minister for Justice and Equality for the purposes of the performance by him of functions under this Act.

• (3) The Minister for Justice and Equality shall not furnish any information to a foreign statutory body pursuant to an arrangement to which this section applies unless it requires of, and obtains from, that body an undertaking in writing by it that it will—

  • (a) not use that information or disclose that information to any other person other than for the purposes of the performance of functions that are the same as or similar to the functions of the Minister for Justice and Equality or the Revenue Commissioners under this Act, and

  • (b) comply with the other terms specified in that requirement.

• (4) The Minister for Justice and Equality may give an undertaking to a foreign statutory body that he will comply with any terms specified in a requirement made of him by the body relating to the use or disclosure by him of that information where compliance with the requirement is a condition imposed by the body for furnishing information to him pursuant to an arrangement to which this section applies.

• (5) An arrangement under this section shall not operate to require the Minister for Justice and Equality to provide information to a foreign statutory body if the disclosure of that information by the Minister for Justice and Equality is prohibited by law.

• (6) In this section ‘foreign statutory body’ means a person who under the law of a place other than the State performs in that place functions that are the same as or similar to those performed by the Minister for Justice and Equality or the Revenue Commissioners under this Act or any other enactment.”.

32. Regulations

32. Section 35 of the Principal Act is amended by the insertion of the following subsection:

• “(3) Every regulation under this Act shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made and, if a resolution annulling the order or regulation is passed by either such House within the next 21 days on which that House sits after the order or regulation is laid before it, the order or regulation shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.”.

33. Amendment of Chapter 1 of Part 2 of Finance Act 2002

33.. (1) Section 64 of the Finance Act 2002 is amended by—

• (a) the substitution of the following definition for the definition of “remote betting intermediary” (inserted by subparagraph (i) of paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of section 54 of the Finance (No. 2) Act 2013):

“ ‘remote betting intermediary’ means a person who is the holder of a remote betting intermediary’s licence;”,

• (b) the insertion of the following definition:

“ ‘remote betting intermediary’s licence’ has the same meaning as it has in the Betting Act 1931 (amended by the Betting (Amendment) Act 2015);”,

• (c) the substitution of the following definition for the definition of “remote bookmaker” (inserted by subparagraph (ii) of paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of section 54 of the Finance (No. 2) Act 2013):

“ ‘remote bookmaker’ means a person who is the holder of a remote bookmaker’s licence;”,

• (d) the insertion of the following definition:

“ ‘remote bookmaker’s licence’ has the same meaning as it has in the Betting Act 1931 (amended by the Betting (Amendment) Act 2015);”,

• (e) the deletion of the definition of “remote means” (inserted by subparagraph (iii) of paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of section 54 of the Finance (No. 2) Act 2013).

• (2) Section 66 of the Finance Act 2002 is amended—

• (a) in subsection (3), by the substitution of “relevant period” for “year” in each place that it occurs, and

• (b) the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (4):

• “(4) In this section ‘relevant period’ means, in relation to a registration or renewal of registration of a premises in the register, the period from such registration to the registration final day within the meaning of section 12 (amended by section 34 of the Betting (Amendment) Act 2015) of the Betting Act 1931 next falling after the date of that registration or renewal of registration.”.

• (3) Section 66A (inserted by paragraph (d) of subsection (1) of section 49 of the Finance Act 2011) of the Finance Act 2002 is amended, in subsection (1), by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (a):

• “(a) for and upon every remote bookmaker’s licence, an excise duty of €10,000, and”.

• (4) Section 66B (inserted by paragraph (d) of subsection (1) of section 49 of the Finance Act 2011) of the Finance Act 2002 is amended, in subsection (1), by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (a) :

• “(a) for and upon every remote betting intermediary’s licence, an excise duty of €10,000, and”.

• (5) Section 78 of the Finance Act 2002 is amended, in subparagraph (i) of paragraph (b) of subsection (5), by the substitution of “the registration final day within the meaning of section 12 (amended by section 34 of the Betting (Amendment) Act 2015) of the Betting Act 1931 next falling” for “the 30th day of November next”.

• (6) The Finance Act 2002 is amended by the insertion of the following section:

“Provision of information to Revenue Commissioners

70A. A person shall, when furnishing a return to the Revenue Commissioners in accordance with section 70, provide the Revenue Commissioners with such other information (if any) as they may reasonably require for the purposes of the performance by them of their functions under this Chapter in relation to that person.”.

34. Amendment of section 12 of Principal Act

34. Section 12 of the Principal Act is amended—

• (a) in subsection (1), by—

• (i) the substitution of “such form as they may specify” for “the prescribed form”, and

• (ii) the substitution of “such form as the Revenue Commissioners shall determine” for “the prescribed form”,

• (b) the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (2):

• “(2) Subject to sections 15 and 17 of this Act and section 78 (amended by section 77 of the Finance Act 2008) of the Finance Act 2002, a premises registered in the register of bookmaking offices shall continue to be so registered until the registration final day next falling after the date on which it was so registered.”,

• (c) the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (3):

• “(3) Subject to sections 15 and 17 of this Act and section 78 (amended by section 77 of the Finance Act 2008) of the Finance Act 2002, each renewal of the registration of a premises in the register of bookmaking offices shall take effect from the expiration of the registration or the last renewal of the registration, as the case may be, of the premises in that register, and the premises shall continue to be so registered until the registration final day next falling after such renewal.”,

and

• (d) the insertion of the following subsection:

• “(5) In this section ‘registration final day’ means, in relation to the registration of a premises in the register of bookmaking offices—

  • (a) the 30th day of November next falling after the year immediately following the year in which section 34 of the Betting (Amendment) Act 2015 comes into operation, and

  • (b) the 30th day of November falling at the end of each period of 24 months following the registration final day immediately preceding the said period.”.

35. Amendment of section 15 of Principal Act

35. Section 15 of the Principal Act is amended by—

• (a) the deletion of subsections (1) and (4), and

• (b) the deletion, in subsection (3), of—

• (i) the words “a bookmaker’s licence is revoked by a court under this section or”,

• (ii) the words “such revocation or”,

• (iii) the words “(as the case may be)”,

• (iv) the words “record such revocation or”, and

• (v) the words “, as the case may require”.

36. Amendment of section 26 of Principal Act

36. Section 26 of the Principal Act is amended, in subsection (2), by—

• (a) the insertion of the words “or any member of the Garda Síochána” after the words “Any officer of customs and excise”, and

• (b) the substitution of “officer or member” for “officer” in each place that it occurs.

37. Repeal of section 32 of Principal Act

37. Section 32 of the Principal Act is repealed.

38. Tax clearance certificate in relation to licence under Act

38. Section 1094 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 is amended, in the definition of “licence” in subsection (1), by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (c):

• “(c) section 7(3), 7B(3) or 7C(3) of the Betting Act 1931,”.

39. Amendment of section 54 of Finance (No. 2) Act 2013

39. Section 54 of the Finance (No. 2) Act 2013 is amended, in subsection (2), by—

• (a) the deletion of clause (II) of subparagraph (ii) of paragraph (b), and

• (b) the deletion of subparagraph (iii) of that paragraph.

40. Short title, collective citation and commencement

40. (1) This Act may be cited as the Betting (Amendment) Act 2015.

• (2) This Act and the Betting Acts 1931 and 1994 may be cited as the Betting Acts 1931 to 2015.

• (3) This Act(other than section 39) shall come into operation on such day or days as the Minister may appoint by order or orders either generally or with reference to any particular purpose or provision and different days may be so appointed for different purposes or provisions.