Department for Culture Media and Sport
6. history of the gambling act
This page is an archived record, for information only. It explains the development of policy behind the Government's reform of gambling law.
For current policy, see What the Gambling Act does.
Draft Gambling Bill | Joint Committee on the Draft Gambling Bill | Public consultation
Draft Gambling Bill
Reform of gambling law began with a policy review by the Independent Gambling Review Body. This was first published in 2001.
The Government responded to this report in March 2002 with a White Paper, "A safe bet for success" and in November 2003 published the first clauses of a draft Gambling Bill.
On 5 February 2004, the Government published additional clauses from the Draft Gambling Bill. The clauses covered:
- Gambling in alcohol licensed premises
- Gambling in members' clubs, commercial clubs and miners' welfare institutes
- Gambling Commission powers to void unfair bets
- Provisions allowing for the enforcement of contracts related to gambling
- A revised offence of cheating
Explanatory notes (PDF 152 kb) are also available for these draft clauses.
The additional provisions in the new draft are:
- Additions to clauses: 21(1)(b), 26(7), 201(1)(b), 67(9), 262(1)
- Whole new clauses: 30, 34, 247, 261
- Whole new Parts - 12, 13 and 15
- Whole new Schedule - 9
The Government also published a number of additional documents giving further explanation of its policy proposals:
On 12 March 2004, the Government published further additional clauses from the Draft Gambling Bill, covering:
- Restrictions on the provision of credit and inducements by gambling operators
- Prohibitions on the use of credit cards in relation to gambling
- The prohibition of chain gifting schemes
Explanatory notes (PDF 21kb) are again available for these draft clauses.
Following scrutiny by the Joint Committee on the Draft Gambling Bill, the Gambling Bill was introduced on 18 October 2004, and published the following day.
The Gambling Act 2005 was passed in April 2005, and will be fully implemented by September 2007.
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Joint Committee on the Draft Gambling Bill
From December 2003, the draft Bill was scrutinised by a Joint Committee on the Draft Gambling Bill, made up members of both Houses of Parliament and chaired by John Greenaway MP.
The Joint Committee received oral and written evidence on the draft Bill, and on 7 April 2004 published its first report.
On 14 June 2004, the Government published its response to the report of the Joint Committee on the draft Gambling Bill (PDF 355kb), accepting 121 of the 139 recommendations made by the Joint Committee. The Government also published an initial Regulatory Impact Assessment addressing the proposals (PDF 123kb) in its response.
Following this, the Joint Committee on the Draft Gambling Bill (Regional Casinos) focused on the definition, location, economic and other implications of the largest casinos. Its report was published in July 2004.
On 22 September 2004, the Government published its response to the report of the Joint Committee on the draft Gambling Bill (Regional Casinos) (PDF 153 kb).
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Public consultation
Public consultation on the draft Gambling Bill took place from 26 November 2003 to 28 February 2004. A summary of responses was published in November 2004.
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