Betting Control Act 1954

When a Commission representative exercises his or her powers of entry and inspection under section 20, the Commission representative may do any or all of the following —

search the premises and examine anything on the premises;

take possession of, and remove from premises, records, or anything else relevant to the investigation, found in the course of the inspection;

take extracts from or make copies of, or download or print out, any records found in the course of the inspection;

photograph or film anything on the premises;

if anything on the premises that is relevant to the inspection cannot be conveniently removed — secure it against interference;

require any person who is on the premises —

to state his or her full name and address;

to answer (orally or in writing) questions put by the Commission representative that are relevant to the investigation;

to give the Commission representative any information, record or other thing in the person’s possession or control that is likely to be relevant to the inspection;

to operate or allow the Commission representative to operate equipment or facilities on the premises for inspection purposes;

to give the Commission representative any translation, code, password or other information necessary to gain access to or to interpret and understand any document or information located or obtained by the Commission representative in the course of the inspection;

to give other assistance that the Commission representative reasonably requires to carry out the inspection.

A person must comply with a requirement under subsection (1)(f).

A person must not —

give a Commission representative information that the person knows to be false or misleading in a material particular; or

hinder, delay or obstruct a Commission representative in carrying out functions under this section.

Nothing in this section or section 20 derogates from the powers of a Commission representative who is a police officer.

A Commission representative is not authorised under this section to take anything from any place unless he or she —

gives the occupier or another person apparently responsible to the occupier a receipt for the thing taken, if requested to do so by the occupier or other person; or

if the occupier or a person apparently responsible to the occupier is not present, leaves a receipt for the thing taken, in an envelope addressed to the occupier, in a prominent position on the premises.

A receipt shall be in a form approved by the Commission.

The Commission shall ensure that a person from whom a record or anything else is taken under this section and who would otherwise be entitled to possession of it is given a copy of it, or reasonable access to it, as appropriate.

If a Commission representative takes possession of anything under this section, the Commission shall ensure that it is returned to the person entitled to possession of it as follows —

if it was taken in connection with the prosecution or possible prosecution of a suspected contravention of this Act or the RWWA Act — as soon as practicable after the relevant prosecution is completed or discontinued or, if no prosecution is commenced, as soon as practicable after the decision is made not to prosecute the suspected contravention;

if it was an instrument on which a levy or fee was payable under this Act — as soon as practicable after assessment and payment of the relevant levy or fee;

in any other case — within 28 days after it was taken.