UK Act of Parliament 1981 United Kingdom

Betting and Gaming Duties Act 1981

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At a glance

What's here

10 compliance obligations, 1 practical guide

Penalty landscape

1 of 10 obligations carry imprisonment (7 years). 9 have no criminal penalty — flagged in the list below.

Who this Act binds

Business-side actors with duties under this Act, ranked by how often they appear.

  • Any Person 9
  • Trader 1

Relevant guidance

Practical guides for businesses affected by this Act, ordered by how closely they engage with it.

Supporting — topic alignment

1 guides

Other Acts binding the same actors

For each actor bound by this Act, the other UK Acts that bind them most often. Useful for understanding the full compliance landscape facing each role.

Any Person also bound by 770 other Acts (top 5 shown)
Traders also bound by 223 other Acts (top 5 shown)

What this Act requires

Sections that create concrete duties on businesses or carry penalties. Procedural and definitional sections are folded into the “Browse other sections” expander at the bottom of each group. Click any section title to read the source text on legislation.gov.uk.

s.006

The duty

  • Pay pool betting duty on net receipts Any Person
s.009

Offences under sections 9 and 9A: penalties

7 years imprisonment
  • Breach of prohibitions related to pool betting and overseas brokering Any Person
s.023

Amount of duty.

  • Calculate and pay gaming machine licence duty Any Person
s.024

Unlicensed machines: duty chargeable.

  • Pay Machine Game Duty on unlicensed gaming machines Any Person
s.026

The duty

  • Pay Machine Game Duty on gaming machines Any Person
s.sch.3

Bingo Duty

  • Register as a bingo promoter and maintain duty records Any Person
s.sch.4b

Remote gaming duty: double taxation relief

  • Claim double taxation relief on remote gaming duty Trader
Browse 50 other sections — procedural / definitional / commencement
s.005

Relief for losses

s.005

Liability to pay

s.005

Bet-brokers

s.005

Double taxation relief

s.007

Calculating net pool betting receipts

s.007

Net pool betting receipts: meaning of “dutiable pool bet”

s.007

Net pool betting receipts: when stakes etc fall due

s.007

Net pool betting receipts: expenses and profits

s.007

Net pool betting receipts: calculating winnings

s.008

Meaning of “bet made for community benefit" in sections 6 to 8

s.008

Meaning of “bet" in sections 6 to 8A

s.009

Further prohibitions for protection of revenue: overseas bet-brokers

s.020

Carrying losses forward

s.020

Supplementary

s.025

Power to modify definition of “amusement machine”.

s.026

The rate

s.026

Accounting periods

s.026

Remote gaming winnings

s.026

Losses

s.026

Exemptions

s.026

Liability to pay

s.026

Double taxation relief

s.026

Regulations about claims for double taxation relief

s.026

Enforcement

s.026

Review and appeal

s.029

Evidence by certificate, etc.

s.032

Application to limited liability partnerships

s.sch.1

Betting duties

s.sch.4a

Unlicensed amusement machines

s.sch.6

Transitional Provisions and Savings

s.sch.a1

Betting duties: double taxation relief

Read the full Act on legislation.gov.uk (opens in a new tab)

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