HM Revenue and Customs Brief 06/10
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Issued on 9th March 2010
Amusement Machine Licence Duty – liability of quiz games played on machines
This Revenue & Customs Brief outlines our policy in relation to quiz games
played on machines and their liability to Amusement Machine Licence Duty (AMLD).
It also covers the treatment of arrears of AMLD which may be due in law. The
brief is without prejudice to the current review for the purposes of AMLD of
Skill With Prizes (SWP) machines and the games played on them. The Review is
being undertaken by Treasury and HM Revenue & Customs, in consultation with the
Gambling Commission and the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.
Background
Our intention is that only those quiz machines that are not defined as gaming
machines will fall outside the scope of AMLD. However, we accept that advice in
Amusement Machine Licence Duty Notice 454 (covering changes effective from
2006) may have misled businesses into believing that machines on which quiz
games were played were always exempt from AMLD and that businesses would suffer
detriment if we sought to recover the underpaid duty.
Guidance
Quiz games played on a machine can be games of chance if they involve both an
element of chance and an element of skill, an element of chance that can be
eliminated by superlative skill or are presented as involving an element of
chance.
The machines on which these games are played are gaming machines under s25 of
the Betting and Gaming Duties Act 1981 and depending on stake and prize limits
they are licensable gaming machines.
Implications
Gaming machines depending on stake and prize limits are liable to AMLD.
If you provide a gaming machine on any premises you must hold a valid AMLD
licence before you make the machine available for play unless the machine falls
within one of the exemptions for small-prize gaming machines.
Arrears of tax
Where businesses have provided quiz games that are games of chance on
machines, we will not be collecting any arrears of AMLD which may be due in law
before the date of this Brief. We will only collect any arrears of AMLD which
may be due in law from the date of this Brief. This paragraph will not apply if
you have provided other games of chance on a machine which also provides quiz
games.
About the Author
© Crown Copyright 2010.
A licence is needed to reproduce this article and has been republished for
educational / informational purposes only. Article reproduced by permission of
HM Revenue & Customs under the terms of a Click-Use Licence. Tax briefs are
updated regularly and may be out of date at time of reading.
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Article Published/Sorted/Amended on Scopulus 2010-03-14 16:11:05 in Tax Articles
