Section 17 of the Gaming Act 1845, as amended by the Theft Act 1968 and the Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980, says:

    17 Winning money, etc, by cheating at play, or by sharing stakes, or by betting or wagering on the event of any game, to be punished as obtaining money by false pretences 

     
    ... Every person who shall, by any fraud or unlawful device or ill practice in playing at or with cards, dice, tables, or other game, or in bearing a part in the stakes, wagers, or adventures, or in betting on the sides or hands of them that do play, or in wagering on the event of any game, sport, pastime, or exercise, win from any other person to himself, or any other or others, any sum of money or valuable thing, shall 

     
      [(a)    on a conviction on indictment be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years; or 
     
      (b)    on summary conviction be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to a fine not exceeding [the prescribed sum] or to both]. 

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