The headline is not to scare anybody but rather to help bring peace and harmony to the event organizing arena of entertainment. In recent times a lot of controversies have arose between event organizers and their participant over prizes and other souvenirs promised after the event.
The government and the legislature in a way to curb this problem have set up the Gaming Commission. This is a regulatory body set up under the Ministry of Interior with its major objectives being to regulate, control, monitor and supervise the operation of game of chance in the country.
Here the law says a person shall not operate a game of chance if the person is not a Limited Liability Company and licensed by the commission to operate a specified game of chance. A game of chance promoted as an incident of bazaar, sale of work, fete or other entertainment of a similar character whether limited to one day or extending over two or more days is lawful and does not require a license if the conditions specified are observed in connection with the promotion and conduct of the game.
The conditions referred to here are;
• The prizes in the game are not money prizes.
• The total value of the prizes does not exceed five hundred million cedis.
• The whole proceeds of the entertainment including the proceeds of the game after deducting; the expenses of the prizes in connection with the game and the expenses incurred in printing tickets for the game are to be used for a charitable or sporting purpose.
• The facilities offered to participate in the game are not the only or the substantial inducement to a person to attend the entertainment.
• The result of the game is to be declared only on the premises on which the entertainment takes place and during the progress of the entertainment.
Also, most importantly no part of the proceeds of a game under this section shall be used for private gain. The same promoter shall not promote more than one game of chance for the same purpose within a period of three months under this section.
Where a condition is broken, the game becomes an unlawful game and a person concerned with the promotion or the conduct of the game commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine of not more than one thousand penalty units or a term of imprisonment of not more than three years or both unless that person proves that there was no ground for knowing that the game had become unlawful.
Companies who engage in a game of chance should write to the commission to explain vividly what their programs are all about and after and administration form is issued to the company. A five percent of the winning package is given to the commission. Companies are supposed to seek the concern of the commission after the game before making known the winners to the public and failure to do so attracts a sanction.
Hence, everybody with the intentions of participating in any game of chance be it beauty pageant, SMS text messaging games should first verify from the Gaming Commission before making any move to prevent future misfortunes.
