Citation and commencement

1. These Regulations may be cited as the Dog Racecourse Totalisator Regulations 1995 and shall come into force 28 days after the day on which they are made.

Interpretation

2. In these Regulations:

"the 1963 Act" means the Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Act 1963;

"betting unit" means the minimum stake which will be accepted at a totalisator from persons betting in respect of any pool or race;

"the central recording system" has the meaning given to it by regulation 3(4) below;

"the operator" has, subject to regulations 8(3)(a) and 9(2) below, the meaning given to it by paragraph 2 of Schedule 5 to the 1963 Act;

"the public display system" has the meaning given to it in regulation 3(5) below; and

"terminal" has the meaning given to it by regulation 3(2) below.

Prescribed Conditions for Totalisators

3.-(1) A totalisator on a dog racecourse shall comply with the following conditions, subject to regulation 8 (inter-track) below.

(2) The totalisator shall not be capable of accepting any bet except through a machine (in these Regulations referred to as a "terminal") forming part of the totalisator which complies with the requirements of regulation 4 below; and for the purpose of these Regulations a terminal forms part of the totalisator if it is capable of communicating bets to the central recording system and is designed and maintained for that purpose, whether or not it is physically connected to any other part of the totalisator.

(3) The totalisator must comply with regulation 5 below.

(4) The totalisator must include a system (in these Regulations referred to as "the central recording system") for the recording of all bets made by means of terminals forming part of the totalisator, which system must comply with regulation 6.

(5) The totalisator must include a system (in these Regulations referred to as "the public display system") for displaying information to the public, which system must comply with regulation 7 below.

4.-(1) A terminal shall be so designed and maintained as to record:

(a)each bet made through it, in accordance with paragraph (2) below; and

(b)the total number of betting units taken by the terminal in respect of each pool in respect of which bets are accepted by it (which shall be recorded in a manner which allows the retrieval of the information in legible form at any time).

(2) A terminal must record each bet made through it either:

(a)by means of a ticket, supplied to the person placing the bet, which sets out, in the manner required by paragraph (3) below, the information referred to in paragraph (4) below; or

(b)by such other means as may have been agreed in writing with the person placing the bet and which records the information referred to in paragraph (4) below.

(3) The information required by paragraph (2)(a) above to be set out on a ticket shall be either:

(i)printed in conspicuous and legible characters on the ticket; or

(ii)given by means of a code printed on the ticket which is decipherable in conjunction with a key which has been made available to the person placing the bet.

(4) The information required by paragraph (2) is as follows:

(a)the date on which the bet was made;

(b)the number or other means of identification of the machine recording the bet;

(c)the amount of the stake in respect of which the bet is recorded;

(d)the identity of the track on which the race or races concerned are to be run;

(e)in the case of a bet recorded in respect of a single race:

(i)a word clearly identifying the pool in respect of which the bet is made;

(ii)the number of the race in respect of which the bet is recorded; and

(iii)an indication of the dog or of each dog in a combination of dogs, as the case may be, nominated by the person placing the bet to secure the place or those places chosen by the operator for the purposes of the pool; and

(f)in the case of a bet recorded in respect of more than one race, a word which clearly identifies the pool in respect of which the bet is made and:

(i)if a single record is made of the bet, the numbers of all the races concerned together with the number of the dog or of each dog in a combination of dogs, as the case may be, nominated by the person placing the bet to secure in each race the place or those places chosen for the purposes of the pool by the operator; or

(ii)if a separate record of the bet is made against each such race, the number of that one of those races in respect of which the record is made together with the number of the dog or each dog in a combination of dogs, as the case may be, nominated by the person placing the bet to secure the place or those places chosen for the purposes of the pool by the operator.

(5) Subject to the next paragraph, a terminal shall be so designed and maintained as not to be capable of recording:

(i)any transaction other than a bet of either a single betting unit or a multiple thereof;

(ii)any bet before every betting unit in respect of which the bet is to be recorded has been recorded by the central recording system; or

(iii)any bet if the terminal is malfunctioning or is incapable of providing a record in accordance with paragraph (2) above.

(6) A terminal may be so set up as to be capable of being operated so as to effect a test transaction, provided that it is not possible for such a test transaction to be recorded either by the terminal or by the central recording system as being a bet placed in respect of an actual race or races.

5.-(1) The totalisator shall be so designed and maintained as to include a system to prevent a bet being recorded by a terminal in respect of:

(a)a dog not taking part in the race or races in respect of which bets are being recorded;

(b)a race where there is no betting on that race;

(c)a race after that race has started; and

(d)a bet on more than one race after the start of the first of the races covered by that bet.

(2) A system established for the purposes of paragraph (1) above may be so arranged as to involve the intervention of a person to operate a control or input a command in order to prevent a bet being recorded; however any such control and any means of inputting any such command may only be installed in a room to which the public do not have access and must, when operated or used to input such a command, have a simultaneous effect in relation to each terminal forming part of the totalisator.

(3) The totalisator must be so designed and maintained as to ensure, as far as practicable, that unauthorised persons cannot gain access to any machine or system forming part of it.

(4) The totalisator must be so designed and maintained as to ensure, as far as practicable, the security of any data recorded in any part of it pursuant to these Regulations.

(5) Nothing in these Regulations shall be construed as requiring the retention of any record for any period longer than would be required if these Regulations had not been made.

6.-(1) The central recording system shall not be capable of recording any transaction other than a bet made through a terminal forming part of the totalisator.

(2) The central recording system shall be so linked to each terminal forming part of the totalisator as to record immediately, progressively and automatically after the inputting of a bet into a terminal the information referred to in the next paragraph.

(3) The information required by the last paragraph is, in relation to each pool in respect of which bets are taken:

(a)the total number of betting units staked in respect of the pool or, where a separate bet is recorded for each race in the case of a pool covering more than one race, race concerned; and

(b)the total number of betting units staked on each dog or combination of dogs in respect of which bets are being accepted in connection with the pool or, where a separate bet is recorded for each race in the case of a pool covering more than one race, race concerned,

together with any other information required to calculate the winnings on a pool in respect of which bets are taken by means of the totalisator.

(4) The central recording system shall be so designed and maintained as to enable the retrieval of the information referred to in the last paragraph in legible form at any time.

7.-(1) Subject to paragraph (2) below, the public display system shall be so designed and maintained, and so linked with the central recording system, as to enable a person in any area of the track in which bets are taken by means of the totalisator to ascertain from it, whilst the totalisator is being operated, the total number of betting units staked in respect of each pool in respect of which bets are being taken by means of the totalisator.

(2) Where the public display system is not synchronised with the central recording system, it must either:

(a)be updated, so far as it gives the information on the total number of betting units as required by paragraph (1) above, not more than 5 seconds after a change in the total number of such betting units as recorded by the central recording system; or

(b)state the time at which that information was last updated by reference to the central recording system.

8.-(1) In relation to the operation of the totalisator for effecting betting transactions under a licensed inter-track betting scheme, regulations 3 to 7 above shall have effect with the following modifications.

(2) Where the operation is in connection with racing on the track where the totalisator is situated, regulations 3(2) and (4), 4, 5(1) and (2) and 6 shall only apply in connection with the use of the totalisator for betting transactions effected at that track.

(3) Where the operation is in connection with racing on a track other than the track where the totalisator is situated:

(a)the references in regulation 4(4)(e)(iii) and 4(4)(f)(i) and (ii) to the operator shall be construed as references to the operator of the totalisator on the track where the racing takes place;

(b)the references in regulation 7 to the "central recording system" shall be construed as references to the central recording system of the totalisator on the track where the racing takes place; and

(c)regulations 3(3) and (4), 4(5)(ii), 5 and 6 shall not apply.

The prescribed particulars for the notice

9.-(1) The notice which the operator is required to display under paragraph 3 of Schedule 5 to the 1963 Act shall, in addition to the information required by that paragraph, set out the terms on which the operator invites persons to bet by means of the totalisator, including:

(a)the procedure for the resolution of disputed bets; and

(b)if in respect of any bet on any race or combination of races the operator includes a condition that, in the event of there being no winning bets on that race or those races, the aggregate amount staked thereon by way of bets made by means of the totalisator (less any deductions made in pursuance of paragraph 4(a) of Schedule 5 to the 1963 Act) shall be carried over to a subsequent race or combination of races, that condition and the bets to which the condition applies.

(2) In relation to the operation of the totalisator for effecting betting transactions under a licensed inter-track betting scheme, paragraph (1) above shall apply, where the operation is in connection with racing on a track other than the track where the totalisator is situated, as if the second and third references therein to the operator were references to the operator of the totalisator on the track where the racing takes place.

Revocation of earlier instruments

10. The Dog Racecourse Totalisator Regulations 1967(2), the Dog Racecourse Totalisator (Scotland) Regulations 1967(3), the Dog Racecourse Totalisator (Amendment) Regulations 1985(4) and the Dog Racecourse Totalisator (Scotland) (Amendment) Regulations 1985(5) are hereby revoked.

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations prescribe conditions which totalisators on dog racecourses must comply with. They also prescribe certain particulars which must be set out in notices posted on dog racecourses in connection with the operation of a totalisator.

Regulations 3 to 7 prescribe the conditions for totalisators on dog racecourses. Regulation 9 prescribes the particulars to go in the notice.

Regulation 3 prohibits the receipt of bets by such a totalisator otherwise than through a terminal forming part of the totalisator; and requires a totalisator to have a central recording system (for bets made through its terminals) and a public display system.

Regulation 4 requires a terminal to have certain recording capabilities and provides that it must not be capable of recording a transaction in certain circumstances.

Regulation 5 lays down certain general conditions in respect of a totalisator on a dog racecourse. It requires the totalisator to have a system to prevent its terminals accepting bets in certain eventualities or conditions; and that subject to certain conditions that system may rely on human intervention. It also requires the totalisator to be designed and maintained to prevent unauthorised access to it and to protect the security of the data it records.

Regulation 6 lays down requirements for the central recording system. It is to immediately and automatically record bets taken by means of the totalisator's terminals; and to maintain a central record sufficient to allow the calculation of winnings.

Regulation 7 requires the public display system to be linked to the central recording system so as to display the number of betting units staked on each relevant pool, with different requirements depending on the immediacy of the link.

Regulation 8 provides for certain adaptions to the above regulations where a totalisator is being used for betting under a licensed inter-track betting scheme (that is a scheme for the taking of bets on participating tracks in respect of a race on one of those tracks). Certain provisions are disapplied given that such schemes are subject to separate regulation.

Regulation 9 sets out the prescribed particulars which must be set out in notices posted on dog racecourses in connection with the operation of a totalisator. Such a notice is required by paragraph 3 of Schedule 5 to the Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Act 1963 and that paragraph already requires that certain of the terms on which bets are accepted by means of the totalisator are to be set out in the notice. Regulation 9(1) sets out other such terms which must be included in such a notice. Regulation 9(2) provides for certain adaptions where a totalisator is being used for betting under a licensed inter-track betting scheme.

Regulation 10 revokes earlier instruments. The principal differences between the provisions of those instruments and the present Regulations are:

• the present Regulations apply to Great Britain, whereas before there were separate regulations for England and Wales on the one hand and Scotland on the other;

• the present Regulations have been amended to take account of modern technology, including computerised totalisators, personal portable terminals linked by radio to the remainder of the totalisator; and ticketless betting by agreement; and

• the present Regulations are not prescriptive as to the types of pool that may be used; in addition the opportunity has been taken to simplify a number of other requirements.