Private Lotteries (Amendment) Ordinance

Bill No. 152/1961

Read the first time on 20th November 1961.

An Ordinance to amend the Private Lotteries Ordinance (Chapter 167 of the Revised Edition).

Be it enacted by the Yang di-Pertuan Negara with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of Singapore, as follows: —

Short title and commencement

1. This Ordinance may be cited as the Private Lotteries (Amendment) Ordinance, 1961, and shall come into operation on such date as the Minister may by notification in the Gazette appoint.

Amendment of section 2

2. Section 2 of the Private Lotteries Ordinance (hereinafter in this Ordinance referred to as the “principal Ordinance”) is hereby amended by inserting immediately before the definition of “lottery” appearing therein the following new definitions: —

“ “Commissioner” means the Commissioner of Estate Duties appointed under the Estate Duty Ordinance (Cap. 162), and includes a Deputy Commissioner of Estate Duties appointed under that Ordinance;

“fruit machine” means any coin or disc operated machine by the manipulation of which chances are given of obtaining prizes in money, and includes a jack-pot machine;”.

Amendment of section 3

3. Section 3 of the principal Ordinance is hereby amended —

(a)	by deleting the expression “-(1)” appearing in the first line of subsection (1) thereof;
(b)	by deleting the word “Minister” appearing in the third line thereof and substituting therefor the word “Commissioner”; and
(c)	by deleting subsection (2) thereof.

Amendment of section 4

4. Section 4 of the principal Ordinance is hereby amended —

(a)	by deleting the word “Minister” wherever it appears therein and substituting therefor the word “Commissioner”; and
(b)	by deleting the words “Yang di-Pertuan Negara” appearing in the third line of subsection (5) thereof and substituting therefor the word “Minister”.

Repeal and re-enactment of section 7

5. Section 7 of the principal Ordinance is hereby repealed and the following substituted therefor: —

“Duty on lotteries

7.—(1) There shall be charged a duty of thirty per centum —

(a)	on the total amount raised by the promoter of any private lottery as shown in the account required to be made and as finally approved by the Commissioner under section 6 of this Ordinance; and
(b)	on the total amount accruing from the operation of any fruit machine, such amount to be deemed to be the amount derived by adding thirty-seven and one-half per centum to the amount remaining in the cash box of such machine at the time of each clearance:

Provided that for the purpose of calculating the duty to be charged, the Commissioner may in his discretion allow such remission as he may deem fit to be made from the amount remaining in such box at the time of each clearance, on his being satisfied that any payment has been made to any player otherwise than from such machine.

(2) Such duty shall be payable in the case of a single lottery within fourteen days after the date on which the winners of prizes are determined, or in the case of a series or a number of lotteries promoted or conducted during a calendar month, within fourteen days after the last day of such calendar month.

(3) It shall not be necessary to make any demand for the payment of duty under this Ordinance.

(4) All amounts of duty collected under this Ordinance shall be paid into the Consolidated Fund.

(5) The Commissioner may, if he is satisfied that any money has been overpaid as duty under this Ordinance, certify the amount to be refunded and shall cause payment to be made forthwith:

Provided that no such refund shall be allowed unless a claim in respect thereof is made within six months after the overpayment was made.

(6) Where, for any reason, any part of duty which ought to have been paid under this Ordinance has been underpaid or the whole or any part of such duty, after having been paid, has been erroneously refunded, the person liable to pay such duty or the person to whom such refund was erroneously made, as the case may be, shall pay the deficiency or repay the amount paid to him in excess, within fifteen days of his receiving a demand therefor from the Commissioner, without prejudice to any other remedy for the recovery of the amount due.”.

Repeal and re-enactment of section 8

6. Section 8 of the principal Ordinance is hereby repealed and the following substituted therefor: —

“Duty payable by promoter

8.—(1) The duty required to be paid under this Ordinance shall be payable by the promoter of the lottery:

Provided that where a lottery is promoted by a society and the promoter makes default in the payment of the duty or any part thereof, the office-bearers of the society and the society itself shall be jointly and severally liable for the payment of any amount due in respect of such duty.

(2) The duty required to be paid under this Ordinance shall be a debt due to the Crown and may be recovered under the provisions of the Crown Suits Ordinance (Cap. 12).”.

Amendment of section 10

7. Subsection (1) of section 10 of the principal Ordinance is hereby amended by deleting the expression “Subject to the provisions of subsection (2) of section 3 of this Ordinance any” appearing in the first and second lines thereof and substituting therefor the word “Any”.

Amendment of section 14

8. Section 14 of the principal Ordinance is hereby amended —

(a)

by renumbering the existing section as subsection (1); and

(b)

by inserting immediately after subsection (1) thereof the following new subsection: —

“(2) The Minister may, in lieu of making any regulation prescribing forms for the purposes of this Ordinance, authorise the Commissioner to prescribe such forms as the Commissioner deems fit.”.

New section 16A

9. The principal Ordinance is hereby amended by inserting immediately after section 16 thereof the following new section: —

“Power to exempt

16A. The Minister may in his discretion, from time to time, by order and either generally or for any period specified in such order and subject to such conditions as may in such order be stated, exempt from all or any of the provisions of this Ordinance or of any regulations made thereunder, any society promoting a private lottery for purposes conducive to the welfare of the public or any class thereof:

Provided that such society has as its principal object the promotion of the welfare of the public or any class thereof and such society is in receipt of a monetary grant from the Government.”.

Miscellaneous amendments

10. Sections 5, 6 and 16 of the principal Ordinance are hereby amended by deleting the word “Minister” wherever it appears therein and substituting therefor the word “Commissioner”.

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