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short title.
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1. This Act may be cited as the Betting and Gaming Levy Act, No- 40 of 1983.
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2.
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(1) Subject to the other provisions of this Act, and notwithstanding any other law, there shall be charged and levied for the year commencing on April 1, 1988, and in respect of every year thereafter, on every person who carries on in Sri Lanka, whether lawfully or unlawfully, during that year (for whatever period)
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(a) the business of a bookmaker; or
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(b) the business of gaming, a levy (hereinafter referred to as the ” levy”) equivalent to the respective amounts set out in the Schedule to this Act:
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Provided however, that where any person commences to carry on any such business as is referred to in paragraph (a) or (b) on or after October 1 of any year, he shall be liable to pay half the levy payable by him under this Act, for that year.
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(2) Nothing in the preceding provisions of this section shall be construed as conferring legality on any business referred to in this section if such business is prohibited by law.
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Business in each place a separate business.
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3. Where any business, as is referred to in subsection (1) of section 2, is carried on in different places by the same person he shall be deemed to carry on a separate business in each such place and shall be liable to pay the levy in respect of each such business.
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4.
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(1) A person liable to pay the levy under this Act for any year commencing prior to April 1, 2002 shall pay such levy, to the Commissioner-General in four equal instalments, on or before the fifteenth day respectively of July, October and January in that year and the fifteenth day of April of the succeeding year:
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Provided however, that a person who commences to carry on any such business as is referred to in section 2, after the first day of April in any year, shall pay the levy is liable to pay under this Act for that year in such number of instalments, and on such dates, as the Commissioner-General may consider reasonable having regard to all the circumstances of the case ;
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Provided further that a person who is liable to pay an installment of the levy on or before the fifteenth day of July, 1988, or on or before the fifteenth day of October, 1988, shall be deemed not to be in default in the payment of such installment, if he pays such installment within sixty days of the date of commencement of this Act, and where he fails to pay such installment within the aforesaid sixty days, such installment shall be deemed to be in default and the provisions of this Act relating to the recovery of an installment of the levy shall apply to the recovery of such installment.
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“(1A) A person liable to pay the levy under this Act for any year commencing an or after April 1,2002 shall pay the levy to the Commissioner-General in four equal installments on or before the first day respectively, of April, July, October and January of that year. For the purposes of payment of the levy the Commissioner-General may issue an identification number to the person liable to pay the levy :
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Provided however, that the levy payable by any person for the year of assessment commencing on April 1, 2002, shall be paid by him in three equal installments on or before the first day respectively, of July, October and January of the year :
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Provided further that, a person who commences to carry on any such business as is referred to in section 2 after the first day of April of any such year shall pay the levy he is liable to pay under this Act for that year in such number of installments not exceeding four, and on such dates as the Commissioner – General may consider reasonable, having regard to all the circumstances of the case.
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(2) Where any person liable to pay the levy under this Act fails to pay any installment thereof on or before the date specified or determined, under subsection (1) or (1A), for the payment thereof, the installment shall be deemed to be in default and such person shall be deemed to be a defaulter, for the purposes of this Act.
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(3) Where any instalment of the levy is in default and
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(a) the default is in respect of an instalment payable in any year commencing on or after April 1, 1988 but prior to April 1, 2001, the defaulter shall, in addition to the instalment in default, pay as penalty
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(i) a sum equivalent to ten per centum of the instalment in default; and
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(ii) where the instalment in default is not paid before the fifteenth day of the month succeeding the month in which such instalment had begun to be in default, a further sum equivalent to two per centum of the instalment in default in respect of each period ending on the fifteenth day of each succeeding month or part of such period, during which it is in default:
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provided however, that the total amount payable as penalty under this paragraph shall, in no case exceed fifty per centum of the instalment in default; and
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(b) the default is in respect of an instalment payable in any year commencing on or after April 1, 2001, the defaulter shall in addition to the instalment in default, pay as penalty, a further sum equivalent to thirty three and one third per centum of the instalment in default, in respect of each period ending on the fifteenth day of each month, succeeding the month in which the instalment had begun to be in default or part of such period during which the instalment is in default:
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Provided however, that the total amount payable as penalty under this paragraph, shall in no case exceed one hundred per centum of the instalment in default.
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(3A) The Commissioner-General may reduce or waive any penalty payable under subsection (3), if the Commissioner – General is satisfied that by reason of any special circumstances in which the default occurred, a reduction or waiver of such penalty would be just and equitable.
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(4) Any installment in default together with such penalty as is referred to in subsection (3) of this section may be recovered from the person who is the defaulter.
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(5) The provisions of Chapters XI and XII and sections 40, 41, 42, 43 and 57 of the Turnover Tax Act, shall, mutatis mutandis, apply to the payment and recovery of any installment of the levy payable under this Act,
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(6) Where any instalment of the levy is in default, the Commissioner-General may issue a certificate containing particulars of the instalment in default and the name of the defaulter to the Inspector-General of Police and the Inspector-General of Police shall on receipt thereof, take such measures as may be necessary to stop the defaulter from carrying on the business of bookmaker or gaming, as the case may be, at the place as shall be specified in such certificate.
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5.
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(1) Every person who-
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(a) fails to comply with any requirement imposed on him under section 38 of the Turnover Tax Act read with section 4(5) of this Act :
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(b) wilfully furnishes any false information affecting his liability to the levy or the liability of any other person to the levy;
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(c) wilfully resists or obstructs the Commissioner- General or an officer of the Inland Revenue Department in the exercise of the powers conferred on the Commissioner-General or such officer by or under section 42 or section 43 of the Turnover Tax Act, read with section 4 (5) of this Act;
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(d) who being a person required to take an oath under section 57 of the Turnover Tax Act read with section 4(5) of this Act, acts under this Act without taking such oath ; or
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(e) acts in contravention of section 57 of the Turnover Tax Act read with section 4 (5) of this Act, shall be guilty of an offence under this Act and shall, on conviction after summary trial by a Magistrate, be liable to a fine not less than twenty five thousand rupees and not exceeding one hundred thousand rupees or to imprisonment of either description for a term not exceeding one year, or to both such fine and imprisonment.
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(2) The Commissioner-General may compound any offence under subsection (1) if he is satisfied that by reason of any special circumstances in which the offence was committed, compounding of the offence would be just and equitable.
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(3) No prosecution in respect of an offence under sub section (1) shall be instituted in any court except with the sanction of the Commissioner-General.
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Administration.
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6.
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(1) The Commissioner-General shall be in charge of the administration of this Act.
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(2) The Commissioner-General may delegate in writing, to any Deputy Commissioner or Assessor any power or function conferred on, or assigned to, him by this Act.
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(3) Every Deputy Commissioner or Assessor to whom any power or function has been delegated under subsection (2) shall exercise or discharge that power, subject to the directions of the Commissioner-General.
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(4) A Deputy Commissioner or Assessor exercising or discharging any power or function of the Commissioner- General under this Act shall be deemed for all purposes to be authorized to exercise or discharge that power or function, until the contrary is proved.
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7. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires
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” Assessor “, ” Commissioner-General”, ” Deputy Commissioner “, and ” persons ” shall have the respective meanings assigned to them by section 59 of the Turnover Tax Act;
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” bookmaker ” means a person who receives or negotiates
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(a) directly or indirectly ;
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(b) in cash or on credit, bets on horse races run, or proposed to be run, in or outside Sri Lanka;
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“business ” means any business referred to in paragraph (a) or paragraph (b) of section 2 and includes a like vocation or, entering into transactions of a like nature among members of a club ;
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” gaming” means the playing of any game for a stake, and includes the playing of baccarat, pun to banc, big six, black jack, blue, chemin de fer, chuck-a-luck, crown and anchor, faro, faro bank, hazard, poker dice, pontoon, American for French roulette, trended quarantine, Vingt-etum, rudjino or wheel of fortune in any premises to which individuals have access
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(a) with or without payment; or
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(b)whether as of right or not;
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” Turnover Tax Act” means the Turnover Tax Act, No. 69 of 1981;
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” year ” means the period of twelve months commencing on the first day of April of any year and ending on the thirty-first day of March in the immediately succeeding year.
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Schedules
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