PART V.

Enforcement, Evidence and Penalties.

36. —(1) Every contract by way of gaming or wagering is void.

(2) No action shall lie for the recovery of any money or thing which is alleged to be won or to have been paid upon a wager or which has been deposited to abide the event on which a wager is made.

(3) A promise, express or implied, to pay any person any money paid by him under or in respect of a contract to which this section applies or to pay any money by way of commission, fee, reward or otherwise in respect of the contract or of any services connected with the contract is void and no action shall lie for the recovery of any such money.

(4) This section does not apply to any agreement to subscribe or contribute to any plate, prize or sum of money to be awarded to the winner or winners of any game, sport or pastime not prohibited by this Act provided that the subscription or contribution is not a stake.

37. —(1) A member of the Garda Síochána may seize any gaming instrument, being a slot-machine prohibited by section 10 or a gaming instrument having any device by means of which it can be fraudulently operated or which he has reason to believe is being fraudulently operated or used for unlawful gaming.

(2) No person shall operate or permit to be operated or be in possession or control of any gaming instrument having any such device.

38. —A member of the Garda Síochána may at all reasonable times enter and have free access to any amusement hall, funfair, circus, travelling show, carnival, bazaar, sports meeting, local festival, exhibition or other like event in which gaming or a lottery is or is believed to be carried on.

39. —(1) Where a Justice of the District Court is satisfied on the information on oath of a member of the Garda Síochána not below the rank of Inspector that there is reasonable ground for supposing that, at any place or premises, an offence against this Act has been, is being, or is about to be committed the Justice may issue a search warrant under this section.

(2) The search warrant shall authorise a named member of the Garda Síochána not below the rank of Inspector, accompanied by such other members of the Garda Síochána as that member thinks proper, to enter the place or premises at any time within forty-eight hours after the issue of the warrant, if need be by force, to inspect the place or premises and any books and documents found there and to take the name and address of any person, and seize any gaming instrument and any books and documents appearing to relate to gaming or lotteries found there.

40. —(1) A member of the Garda Síochána may arrest without warrant any person whom he finds conducting or assisting in conducting in a public place any kind of gaming which he has reason to believe to be contrary to this Act.

(2) A member of the Garda Síochána may arrest without warrant any person who, when his name and address are demanded of him under this Act, fails to give them or gives a name or address which such member has reason to believe to be false or misleading.

41. —Any person who obstructs or impedes a member of the Garda Síochána in the exercise of his powers under this Act or who, on being asked his name and address by such member, fails to give them or gives a name or address which is false or misleading shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding twenty-five pounds.

42. —If a member of the Garda Síochána is obstructed or impeded in entering any place or premises or any part thereof in the exercise of his powers under this Act or if any gaming instrument, being a slot machine prohibited by section 10 or a gaming instrument capable of being used for unlawful gaming, is found therein it shall be assumed until the contrary is proved that that place or premises was or were being kept for unlawful gaming.

43. —It shall not be necessary in support of a prosecution in relation to unlawful gaming to prove that any person found playing at any game was playing for any money, wager or stake.

44. —A person who contravenes any provision of this Act for which a penalty is not specifically provided shall be guilty of an offence and shall on summary conviction thereof be liable to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or to both such fine and imprisonment.

45. —(1) Where an offence against this Act is committed by a body corporate or by a person purporting to act on behalf of a body corporate or an unincorporated body of persons and is proved to have been so committed with the consent or approval of, or to have been facilitated by any default on the part of, any person being, in the case of a body corporate, a director thereof, or, in the case of an unincorporated body, a member of the committee of management or other controlling authority thereof, that person shall also be guilty of the offence.

(2) Any summons or other document required to be served for the purpose or in the course of proceedings under this section on a body corporate may be served by leaving it at or sending it by registered post to the registered office of that body or, if there be no such office in the State, by leaving it at, or sending it by registered post to, the body at any place in the State at which it conducts its business.

46. —Where a person who is the holder of a gaming licence or a lottery licence or permit is convicted of an offence against this Act the Court may revoke the licence or permit.

47. —(1) On a conviction for an offence against this Act the Court may order the forfeiture to the Minister of any gaming instrument used in the commission of the offence or, in case of a conviction under section 5, any gaming instrument found on the premises or at the place concerned.

(2) The Minister may deal with or dispose of as he thinks fit any thing so forfeited.

(3) The net proceeds of any thing sold by the Minister in pursuance of this section shall be paid into or disposed of for the benefit of the Exchequer in such manner as the Minister for Finance shall direct.

48. —On a conviction for an offence in relation to a lottery the Court may order the destruction of any documents relating to the lottery.

49. —(1) The Minister for Posts and Telegraphs may detain any postal packet posted in the State and suspected of containing any document relating to an unlawful lottery and shall forward every postal packet so detained to a member of the Garda Síochána not below the rank of Superintendent.

(2) The member may open and examine the packet, but, in the case of an address within the State, only in the presence of the person to whom it is addressed unless, after notice in writing requiring his attendance left at or forwarded by post to the address on the packet, he fails to attend.

(3) If the member finds any such document he may detain the packet and its contents for the purpose of prosecution, and if he finds no such document he shall either deliver the packet to the person to whom it is addressed or, if he is absent, forward the packet to him by post.

(4) This section shall be construed as one with the Post Office Acts, 1908 to 1951.

50. —(1) The Commissioner of the Garda Síochána, with the consent of the Minister, may make regulations providing for the keeping of accounts and other records in relation to lotteries and the furnishing of returns and information relating thereto.

(2) Every person on whom a duty is imposed by any such regulation shall comply with its provisions.

51. —This Act does not apply to a sweepstake under the Public Hospitals Acts, 1933 to 1940.