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Gambling Act 2005

The Gambling Act 2005 ("the Act") replaced most of the existing law about gambling in Great Britain and put in place an improved, more comprehensive structure of gambling regulation.

The Act introduced a unified regulator for gambling in Great Britain, the Gambling Commission, and a new licensing regime for commercial gambling (to be conducted by the Commission or by Licensing Authorities, depending on the matter to be licensed).

The Act removed from licensing justices all responsibility for granting gaming and betting permissions, which they had exercised previously. Instead, the Gambling Commission and ourselves will share between us responsibility for all those matters previously regulated by the licensing justices.

Premise and Permit Licence holders, ourselves and other agencies must all work to promote the three Gambling Licensing objectives which are:

  1. Preventing gambling from being a source of crime or disorder, being associated with crime or disorder or being used to support crime;
  2. Ensuring that gambling is conducted in a fair and open way; and,
  3. Protecting children and other vulnerable persons from being harmed or exploited by gambling

Under the provisions of the Act we are required to produce a Statement of Gambling Licensing Policy which sets out how we intend to administer the Act.

We will undertake various regulatory functions in relation to a number of gambling activities and we will be responsible for:

  • The issuing of Premise Licences for the provision of gambling activities;
  • The issuing of Permits for Unlicensed Family Entertainment Centres, Club Gaming, Club Machines, Licensed Premises Gaming Machines and Prize Gaming;
  • The issuing of Provisional Statements;
  • The receiving and endorsing of Temporary Use Notices;
  • The receiving of Occasional Use Notices; and,
  • The registering of Small Lotteries

The Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) have prepared a leaflet to help you understand the Act and the role that we, as Licensing Authority, will now have in determining and regulating the gambling industry in our local area.

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New Licences

The Gambling Act 2005 provides for three categories of licence:

  • Operating licences (awarded by the Gambling Commission)
  • Personal licences (awarded by the Gambling Commission)
  • Premises licences (awarded by Licensing Authorities e.g. Haringey)
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Conditions

Each type of licence may have conditions attached to it. Conditions may be attached in a number of ways:

  • They may attach automatically, having been set out on the face of the Act
  • They may attach through regulations made by the Secretary of State
  • They may be attached to operating and personal licences by the Gambling Commission
  • They may be attached to premises licences by licensing authorities

Conditions may sometimes be general in nature (i.e. they attach to all licences or all licences of a particular class) or they may be specific to a particular licence.

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Main functions of Licensing Authorities

The main functions of the Licensing Authorities are:

  • Responsibility for the licensing of premises where gambling activities take place by the issue of premises licences
  • Issue of Provisional Statements (provisional approvals for premises not yet built)
  • Grant permits for gaming and gaming machines in clubs and miners’ welfare institutes  
  • Granting of permits for the use of certain lower stake gaming machines at unlicensed Family Entertainment Centres
  • Regulate gaming and gaming machines in alcohol licensed premises
  • Registering small societies’ lotteries
  • Grant permits for prize gaming
  • Consider notices given for the temporary use of premises for gambling
  • Consider occasional use notices for betting at tracks
  • Providing information to the Gambling Commission regarding details of licences issued
  • Maintaining registers of the permits and licences that are issued under these functions

In addition, licensing authorities are required to prepare, every three years, a statement of the principles which they propose to apply when exercising their functions, and they must publish the statement. The statement, which may also be referred to as a 'policy', can be reviewed, revised and re-published during the three-year period in which it has effect. In preparing or revising the statement, licensing authorities must follow the procedure set out in the Act, including whom they should consult. You can review our draft statement on the Gambling Act Consultation page.

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Acts to be repealed

Once the Gambling Act comes fully into force, the following acts will be repealed:

  • Betting and Gaming Act 1963
  • Gaming Act 1968
  • Lotteries and Amusements Act 1976

By virtue of the Gambling Act 2005, the functions formerly exercised by Magistrates and the Gaming Board of Great Britain by virtue of the abovementioned legislation are being transferred to the licensing authorities and the Gambling Commission.

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Application forms

You can download applications forms from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) website, see the external links section below.

Please Note: When emailing your application forms remember that to protect against computer viruses, email programs may prevent sending or receiving certain types of file attachments. Check your email security settings to determine how attachments are handled.

Further information

More information on the Gambling Act 2005 can be found on the Gambling Commision website (see the external links section below).

For a short summary of the transitional provisions and for gaming advice for pubs please see the attached files section below.

Contact

The Licensing Team
Regulatory Services
Place & Sustainability
Units 271-272
Lee Valley Technopark
Ashley Road
Tottenham
London N17 9LN

Tel 020 8489 8232
Fax 020 8489 5133

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Page Last Updated: 18 April 2012

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