5 - Poker as private gaming
29.46. Poker offered as private gaming can take place
anywhere to which the public do 7️⃣ not have access, and this would include a workplace.
Domestic and residential gaming are two subsets where non-equal chance gaming 7️⃣ is
allowed:
Domestic gaming is permitted without the need for permissions if:
it takes
place in a private dwelling
it is on a 7️⃣ domestic occasion
no charge or levy is made for
playing.
Residential gaming is permitted when:
it takes place in a hall of residence 7️⃣ or
hostel not administered in the course of a trade or business
more than 50 percent of
the participants are residents.
29.47. 7️⃣ Private gaming can potentially take place on
commercial premises in circumstances where a members’ club hires a room in, for
7️⃣ example, a pub or hotel for a private function where equal chance gaming only is
played. However, organisers would need 7️⃣ to scrutinise very carefully the arrangements
put in place to make sure that the particular area of the pub, hotel 7️⃣ or other venue in
which the gaming takes place is not, on the occasion of the private function, a place
7️⃣ to which the public have access and that those participating are not selected by a
process which means that, in 7️⃣ fact, they are members of the public rather than members
of the club. The law in this area is complex 7️⃣ and organisers should be advised to seek
their own legal advice before proceeding with the event.
29.48. It is a condition 7️⃣ of
private gaming that no charge (by whatever name called) is made for participation and
Schedule 15 to the Act 7️⃣ makes it clear that a deduction from or levy on sums staked or
won by participants in gaming is a 7️⃣ charge for participation in the gaming. It is
irrelevant whether the charge is expressed to be voluntary or compulsory, particularly
7️⃣ if customers are prevented from playing if they do not make the ‘voluntary’ donation,
or there is strong peer pressure 7️⃣ to make the donation. A relevant decided case in
another licensing field is that of Cocks v Mayner (1893) 58 7️⃣ JP 104, in which it was
found that an omnibus said to be available free of charge but whose passengers 7️⃣ who were
invited to (and in some cases did) make a voluntary contribution was ‘plying for hire’
without the appropriate 7️⃣ licence.
29.49. Additionally, the decided cases of Panama
(Piccadilly) Ltd v Newberry (1962) 1WLR 610 and Lunn v Colston-Hayter (1991) 155 7️⃣ JP 384
are helpful in guiding local authorities in deciding whether a person ceases to be a
member of the 7️⃣ public merely because they have agreed to become a member of a
club.
29.50. In the first of these cases (which 7️⃣ related to a strip show), the court
said that an applicant for membership of the club and admission to the 7️⃣ show was and
remained a member of the public, as the whole purpose (of membership) was to get
members of 7️⃣ the public to see the show and there was no sufficient segregation or
selection to cause an applicant to cease 7️⃣ to be a member of the public and to acquire a
different status as a member of a club on 7️⃣ signing his application form and paying the
charge. In the second (which related to an acid house party), the judge 7️⃣ said that it
was impossible, merely because of the existence of a formal scheme of club membership
enforced to the 7️⃣ extent of requiring tickets to be obtained 24-hours in advance of the
event, to regard those who obtained such membership 7️⃣ and tickets as having ceased to be
members of the public.
29.51. This means that people joining a club to attend 7️⃣ and take
part in a ‘private’ event are likely to remain members of the public, particularly if
‘club membership’ is 7️⃣ acquired only a short time before, and in order to attend the
event.
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