Mr Richard Caborn (Minister of State (Sport and Tourism), Department for Culture, Media & Sport; Sheffield Central, Labour)

I beg to move amendment No. 21, in clause 34, page 15, line 31, after 'who', insert

'— (a) are acting in the course of a business, or (b) '.

This is a drafting amendment to provide further clarity about the premises excluded from the offence in the clause. Subsection (6) already exempts premises that provide facilities for gambling to persons who are not on the premises. That was intended to cover premises that house remote gambling equipment such as computer servers. There is no need for those premises to be licensed.

The amendment is intended to give further reassurance to businesses that provide opportunities for people to gamble remotely. One example is telephone call centres that accept bets by telephone. Although there are clearly people on the premises providing facilities for gambling, the premises are never used by the public to gamble. The amendment makes it clear that such premises do not need to be licensed either.

Amendment agreed to.

Amendment proposed: No. 154, in clause 34, page 16, line 5, at end add—

'(10) for the purposes of this section ''use'' shall have its normal and natural meaning.'.—[Mr. Moss.]

Mr Roger Gale (North Thanet, Conservative)

With this it will be convenient to discuss amendment No. 213, in clause 61, page 25, line 38, at end add—

'(6)''use'' in this section shall be given its normal and natural meaning'.

Mr Richard Caborn (Minister of State (Sport and Tourism), Department for Culture, Media & Sport; Sheffield Central, Labour)

The amendments are unnecessary and would remove a non-existent doubt. When a word is used in a statute, it has its ordinary and natural meaning unless the statute provides otherwise. The Bill does not provide that the word ''use'' in clauses 34 and 61 has some special meaning. It has its normal meaning, so there is no need to make express provision to that effect.

Mr Malcolm Moss (Shadow Minister, Home Affairs; North East Cambridgeshire, Conservative)

I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment.

Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

Clause 34, as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill.