Betting, pool-selling, book-making, etc.
202 (1) Every one commits an offence who
(a) uses or knowingly allows a place under his control to be used for the purpose of recording or registering bets or selling a pool;
(b) imports, makes, buys, sells, rents, leases, hires or keeps, exhibits, employs or knowingly allows to be kept, exhibited or employed in any place under his control any device or apparatus for the purpose of recording or registering bets or selling a pool, or any machine or device for gambling or betting;
(c) has under his control any money or other property relating to a transaction that is an offence under this section;
(d) records or registers bets or sells a pool;
(e) engages in book-making or pool-selling, or in the business or occupation of betting, or makes any agreement for the purchase or sale of betting or gaming privileges, or for the purchase or sale of information that is intended to assist in book-making, pool-selling or betting;
(f) prints, provides or offers to print or provide information intended for use in connection with book-making, pool-selling or betting on any horse-race, fight, game or sport, whether or not it takes place in or outside Canada or has or has not taken place;
(g) imports or brings into Canada any information or writing that is intended or is likely to promote or be of use in gambling, book-making, pool-selling or betting on a horse-race, fight, game or sport, and where this paragraph applies it is immaterial
(i) whether the information is published before, during or after the race, fight game or sport, or
(ii) whether the race, fight, game or sport takes place in Canada or elsewhere,
but this paragraph does not apply to a newspaper, magazine or other periodical published in good faith primarily for a purpose other than the publication of such information;
(h) advertises, prints, publishes, exhibits, posts up, or otherwise gives notice of any offer, invitation or inducement to bet on, to guess or to foretell the result of a contest, or a result of or contingency relating to any contest;
(i) wilfully and knowingly sends, transmits, delivers or receives any message that conveys any information relating to book-making, pool-selling, betting or wagering, or that is intended to assist in book-making, pool-selling, betting or wagering; or
(j) aids or assists in any manner in anything that is an offence under this section.
Punishment
(2) Every one who commits an offence under this section is guilty of an indictable offence and liable
(a) for a first offence, to imprisonment for not more than two years;
(b) for a second offence, to imprisonment for not more than two years and not less than fourteen days; and
(c) for each subsequent offence, to imprisonment for not more than two years and not less than three months.
Annotations | French
- Section 202
- The terms “bet”, “gaming equipment”, “game”, and “place” are defined in s 197(1).
- The term “book-making” means “the business of receiving or negotiating bets” (R v Decome (1991), 63 CCC (3d) 460 (QC CA)).
- The Offences
- Exceptions to the prohibited activity captured by this section are described in s 204.
- This provision requires proof of the following elements: (i) the accused kept devices in a place under the accused’s control; (ii) the devices were gambling devices; and (iii) the accused knowingly kept the devices and knew they were gambling devices. The Crown does not need to prove that the machines were actually used for the purposes of gambling. Decisions before 1993 that took a purpose-based approach and held that the Crown must prove that the machines were kept for the purpose of gambling have been over-ruled and are no longer good law (R v Kent, [1994] 3 SCR 133 at 138–139).
- Sections 202(1)(f) and 202(1)(g) apply even when the information relates to an event that takes place outside of Canada and the event is legal in the jurisdiction in which it is taking place (R v Ede (1993), 84 CCC (3d) 447 (Ont CA)).
- Placing a bet with a book-maker is not illegal, so for the purposes of section 202(1)(d), only the book-keeper can be liable for recording or registering bets (R v Michael (1974), 18 CCC (2d) 282 (AB SC)).