Gambling licensing

To find out more about licensing for gambling see the Gambling Commission website licensing section.

The Gambling Act 2005 came into force on 1 September 2007. The Act repealed the Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Act 1963, the Gaming Act 1968 and the Lotteries and Amusement Act 1976. 

The Gambling Act 2005

The Act covers 2 main activities:

• Providing facilities for gambling

• Using premises for gambling

The 2005 Act contains 3 licensing objectives that underpin the legislation:

• Preventing gambling from being a source of crime and disorder, being associated with crime or disorder, or being used to support a crime

• Ensuring that gambling is conducted in a fair and open way

• Protecting children and other vulnerable people from being harmed or exploited by gambling

What does The Act do?

The Act transfers responsibility for granting gaming and betting permissions from licensing Justices and grants new powers to licensing authorities in relation to the licensing and regulation of the use of gambling premises.

The 2005 Act empowers the Licensing Authority to process, determine and enforce the following permissions/authorisations:

• Premises Licences:
  
  - Casinos
  - Betting Shops
  - Adult Gaming Centres
  - Family Entertainment Centres
  - Bingo, and
  - Track Betting
  

• Permits:
  
  - Unlicensed Family Entertainment Centres
  - Club gaming permits
  - Club machine permits
  - Alcohol licensed premises gaming Machine Permits
  - Prize gaming permits
  

• Lotteries:
  
  - Small society lotteries
  

• Notices:
  
  - Temporary Use Notices
  - Occasional Use Notices
  

The Act requires the Council to publish a Statement of Gambling Principles (which must be revised at least three yearly and it is this Statement of Principles that will determine all applications given to the Licensing Authority to process. The revised Statement of Principles come into effect on 31 January 2010.

More details

The relevant documents, including application forms, for premises licenced under the Gambling Act 2005 can be found on our gambling premises applications page.

Further information can be obtained from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport - DCMS - website.