Prohibition on inviting, etc. person under 18 to play gaming machine

Q: Is article 124A of The Betting, Gaming, Lotteries and Amusements (Northern Ireland) Order 1985 a strict liability offence?

The prosecution must prove that the conduct happened. This is a strict liability offence as drafted: the provision uses no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence, so there is no need to show that a person meant to do it, knew about it, or was careless.

article 124A⁠ of The Betting, Gaming, Lotteries and Amusements (Northern Ireland) Order 1985

Revoked
Strict liability
Alcohol licensing, gambling, smoke-free and public health

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

What the provision says

124A⁠ 1 Any person who invites, causes or permits an individual under the age of 18 to play a gaming machine, other than a lower limit gaming machine, is guilty of an offence.

Text as made, from legislation.gov.uk. © Crown copyright, reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.

Who it binds, and what has to be proved

Binds: a person
Conduct: breaching the provision
Fault element: Strict liability
Burden of proof: Legal burden on the defendant

The prosecution must prove that the conduct happened. This is a strict liability offence as drafted: the provision uses no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence, so there is no need to show that a person meant to do it, knew about it, or was careless.

Intention, knowledge and carelessness are irrelevant to guilt. They may still matter a great deal to sentence.

The provision gives a defence the defendant must prove, on the balance of probabilities. A legal burden of that kind can be read down to a merely evidential one under section 3 of the Human Rights Act 1998 where placing it on the defendant would be disproportionate (R v Lambert [2001] UKHL 37; Sheldrake v DPP [2004] UKHL 43).

Classifier’s reasoning: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision.

The defence, as drafted

edings against a person for an offence under paragraph (1), it is a defence to prove that there was good reason to believe that the person under the age of 18 had attained that age. 3 In paragraph (1) a “lower limit gaming machine” means a gaming machine— a which is installed on premises in respect of which there is in force an amusement perm

What would breach article 124A⁠?

These are illustrations, not law. They are generated from the provision’s own words to show the shape of the offence. Whether any particular conduct is caught depends on the full text, on any amendment since, and on the facts.

On these words an offence is committed where a person invites, causes or permits an individual under the age of 18 to play a gaming machine, other than a lower limit gaming machine.
Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Betting, Gaming, Lotteries and Amusements (Northern Ireland) Order 1985.

Penalty

Mode of trial: Not determined
Maximum fine: Not determined
Maximum prison (summary): Not determined

no penalty is stated in this instrument; it may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence.

No penalty was determined from this instrument. It may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence. Absence of a figure here is not evidence that the offence carries no penalty.

Sentencing

Offences of this kind are usually sentenced under the guidelines below. This is a mapping by subject, not a finding about this provision, and the links go to a search of the Sentencing Council’s own site.

Health and safety offences, corporate manslaughter and food safety and hygiene offences: definitive guideline Magistrates' courts and the Crown Court in England and Wales · in force from 1 February 2016
Covers breaches of duty under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and the regulations made under it, and food safety and food hygiene offences. Sentencing turns on culpability and on the seriousness and likelihood of harm risked, not only on the harm that happened.
Reduction in sentence for a guilty plea: definitive guideline All courts in England and Wales · in force from 1 June 2017
The sliding scale of credit for pleading guilty, from one third at the first stage of proceedings downwards.
General guideline: overarching principles All courts in England and Wales · in force from 1 October 2019
The guideline a court uses when there is no offence-specific guideline, which is the position for the overwhelming majority of offences created by statutory instrument. It sets out how culpability and harm are assessed from first principles.
Totality: definitive guideline All courts in England and Wales
How to sentence more than one offence at once so that the total is just and proportionate - frequently in point here, because regulatory prosecutions commonly charge several breaches of the same instrument.

Prosecution figures

No published per-offence figure was found for this provision, and it could not be matched to a Ministry of Justice offence code. Offences created by statutory instrument very largely do not have one. Absence of a figure is not evidence that the offence is unused.

Status and lifecycle

Current status: Revoked
Revoked by: The Licensing (Register of Licences) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1988
Revoked on: 5 December 1988
Made: 31 July 1985
In force from: Not determined
Extent: N.I.

How this was established: the instrument was revoked by a later instrument found in this corpus.

Other offences in the same instrument

SCHEDULE 5SCHEDULE 5
Use of gaming machines in registered clubsarticle 106(10)
Use of gaming machines in registered clubsarticle 106(8)
Use of gaming machines on other premisesarticle 108(11)
Use of gaming machines on other premisesarticle 108(12)
Use of gaming machines on other premisesarticle 108(14)
Where a condition to which an amusement permit is subject is contravened or a requirement imposed under…article 120(1)
Use of gaming machines at exempt entertainmentsarticle 122(6)
Use of gaming machines at exempt entertainmentsarticle 122(8)
Removal of money from gaming machines on certain premisesarticle 123(3)
Regulation of gaming machinesarticle 124(2)
Regulation of gaming machinesarticle 124(3)

How this was identified as an offence

Everything above rests on the judgement that this provision creates a criminal offence, rather than mentioning one. That judgement is made by rule, from the words of the provision, and this is the rule that made it — with a confidence of 0.92.

Basis: the provision says a person is “guilty of an offence”
Confidence: 0.92 of 1.00

A provision that states a penalty for an offence created elsewhere can read very like one that creates an offence, and the rules can mistake the one for the other. If the text quoted above sets a penalty for something made an offence by another provision, treat the classification on this page with that in mind, and read the instrument.

Check the source

This provision on legislation.gov.uk The authoritative text. Check it before relying on anything here.
The Betting, Gaming, Lotteries and Amusements (Northern Ireland) Order 1985 Every offence this instrument creates, and its explanatory note
Alcohol licensing, gambling, smoke-free and public healthOther offences on the same subject
Offences created in 1985