GOVERNMENT LOTTERIES ORDINANCE

GOVERNMENT LOTTERIES ORDINANCE

LAWS OF HONG KONG

GOVERNMENT LOTTERIES ORDINANCE

CHAPTER 334
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CHAPTER 334

GOVERNMENT LOTTERIES

To authorize and control the promotion and conduct of Government
lotteries and matters ancillary thereto.

[31st March, 1962.]

1. This Ordinance may be cited as the Government Lotteries
Ordinance.

2. In this Ordinance, unless the context otherwise requires

'Chairman' means the chairman of the Government Lotteries
Management Committee;

'Committee' means the Government Lotteries Management Committee
appointed in accordance with section 3;

'galewarning' means a warning of the occurrence of a tropical cyclone
in, or in the vicinity of, Hong Kong by the display of any of the
local visual storm warning signals referred to in section 5 of the
Judicial Proceedings (Adjournment During Gale Warnings)
Ordinance; (Added, 66 of 1973, s. 2)

'Lotteries Fund' means the Lotteries Fund established by resolution
made and passed by the Legislative Council on the 30th day of June
1965 and published in the Gazette; (Added, 33 of 1967, s.2)

'lottery' means any scheme for distributing prizes by lot or chance
which is promoted and conducted by the Committee;

'ticket', in relation to any lottery or proposed lottery, means any
document issued by the Committee evidencing the claim of a
person to participate in the chances of such lottery;

'member', in relation to the Committee, includes the Chairman.

3. (1) The Governor may by notification in the Gazette appoint a
standing committee to be known as the Government Lotteries
Management Committee.

(2) The Committee shall consist of a Chairman and not less than
three nor more than five members who shall be appointed by the
Governor by notification in the Gazette.

4. (1) The Committee shall meet at such times and at such places as
the Chairman may appoint.

(2) At any meeting of the Committee the Chairman shall preside:

Provided that if at any meeting the Chairman is absent there shall
preside either





(a)such member as the Chairman may in his discretion direct
to preside for the purposes of that meeting; or
(b)in the absence of any such direction by the Chairman,
one member of the Committee elected from among those
members present at such meeting.

(3) At any meeting of the Committee three members shall be
a quorum.

(4) The validity of any proceedings of the Committee shall
not be affected by any vacancy among the members thereof or by
any defect in the appointment of any member thereof.

(5) Any question to be determined at a meeting of the Com-
mittee shall be determined by a majority of the members present
and voting thereon.

(6) The Chairman at any meeting of the Committee shall have
an original vote and also, if upon any question the votes shall be
equally divided, a casting vote.

(7) The Committee may make standing orders for regulating
the procedure at, and in connexion with, its meetings.

5. It shall be the duty of the Committee from time to time to
conduct or cause to be conducted lotteries and to do such other things
as the Governor may, subject to the provisions of this Ordinance or
any rules made thereunder, direct in connexion therewith.

6. (1) The proceeds of the sale of tickets in a lottery shall be
paid into the Lotteries Fund as soon as practicable after the sale
of such tickets.

(2) Sixty per cent, or as close to that proportion as is practi-
cable, of the proceeds of the sale of tickets in a lottery shall be
apportioned as prizes in such manner as the Committee, subject to
the direction of the Governor, may determine.

(3) All expenses arising out of the conduct of a lottery or the
operation of the Committee shall be paid out of the Lotteries Fund.

(4) The Financial Secretary, after making due allowance for
any payments which may be outstanding under subsections (2) and
(3), may appropriate from the Lotteries Fund moneys for the purpose
of financing, by way of grant, loan or advance, the support and
development of such social welfare services in the Colony as the
Governor, after consultation with the Social Welfare Advisory
Committee, may approve. (Amended, 66 of 1973, s. 3)

(5) [Deleted, 66 of 1973, S. 3]

(6) The Legislative Council may by resolution amend sub-
section (2) so as to vary the proportion of the proceeds of the sale
of tickets in a lottery which is to be apportioned as prizes.
(Replaced, 33 of 1967, s. 3)





7. (1) The Accountant General shall cause proper accounts
to be kept of all transactions of the Lotteries Fund and shall cause
to be prepared for every period of twelve months ending on the
31st day of March in each year a statement of the accounts of the
Lotteries Fund, which statement shall include a receipts and pay-
ments account and statement of assets and liabilities and shall be
signed by the Accountant General.

(IA) The accounts of the Lotteries Fund and the signed
statement of the accounts shall be audited by the Director of Audit,
who shall certify the statement and make such report as he thinks
fit. (Added, 66 of 1973, s. 4)

(2) A copy of the signed and audited statement of accounts
and of any report by the Director of Audit shall be laid on the table
of the Legislative Council not later than the 31st day of December
next following the end of such period or so soon thereafter as the
Governor may allow.
(Replaced, 33 of 1967, s. 4. Amended, 66 of 1973, s. 4)

8. The Financial Secretary may direct that an annual super-
vision fee to be determined by him shall be charged against the
income of the Lotteries Fund and paid into the general revenue of
the Colony.
(Added, 33 of 1967, s. 4)

9. The Governor may make rules providing for-
(a)the appointment of and the conditions to be observed by
agents for the sale of tickets for lotteries and the rights,
liabilities and obligations of such agents and commissions
payable in connexion therewith;

(b) the form and contents of tickets for lotteries;
(c)the information to be published concerning lotteries and
the manner in which such information shall be published,

(d)the manner in which any drawing for the allotment of
prizes shall be undertaken, including the persons who shall
be present at any such drawing and their powers and
duties in relation thereto;
(e)the manner in which any dispute or difficulty which may
arise as to the conduct of any lottery or the drawing for
the allotment of any prize in respect thereof shall be
determined;
(f)the time within which and the manner in which lottery
prizes shall be claimed;
(g)the disposal of unclaimed prizes or money or prizes or
money, as to which any dispute has arisen;
(h)such other matters as the Governor may consider ex-
pedient to give effect to the purposes of this Ordinance;





(i)the postponement of the drawing of any lottery which is
due to take place within the duration of a gale warning.
(Added, 66 of 1973, s. 5)

10. Any person who obstructs or impedes the drawing of any
lottery, or creates any disturbance at or near any place at which
any lottery is being or is about to be drawn, shall be guilty of an
offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine of one
thousand dollars and to imprisonment for three months.

11. For avoidance of doubt, every ticket shall be deemed to
be a document to which the provisions of section 72(1) of the Crimes
Ordinance apply.

12. Nothing contained in the Gambling Ordinance shall apply
to any lottery to which the provisions of this Ordinance apply.
Originally 10 of 1962. 33 of 1967. 66 of 1973. Short title. Interpretation. (Cap. 62.) Appointment and constitution of the Committee. Meetings of the Committee. Duties of the Committee. Proceeds of lotteries. Accounts. Cost of administration. Rules. Obstruction at draw of lottery. Application of Part IX (Forgery) of Crimes Ordinance. (Cap. 200.) Gambling Ordinance not to apply to Government lotteries. (Cap. 148.)

Originally 10 of 1962. 33 of 1967. 66 of 1973. Short title. Interpretation. (Cap. 62.) Appointment and constitution of the Committee. Meetings of the Committee. Duties of the Committee. Proceeds of lotteries. Accounts. Cost of administration. Rules. Obstruction at draw of lottery. Application of Part IX (Forgery) of Crimes Ordinance. (Cap. 200.) Gambling Ordinance not to apply to Government lotteries. (Cap. 148.)

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