What is in the Bill?
1. The Gambling Bill proposes the replacement of the entirety of existing British law about gambling, and extends to the whole of Great Britain, but not Northern Ireland. It proposes a new system based on regulation partly by a new Gambling Commission and partly by local authorities.
The system of regulation is focussed on three licensing objectives, which are:
- The exclusion of crime from gambling;
- Fairness for the consumer, and;
- The prevention of harm to children and vulnerable persons.
2. The Gambling Commission will license and regulate the main forms of commercial gambling, including casinos, bingo, betting, pool betting and the larger charity lotteries. It will also license all forms of gambling that employ 'remote' technologies, like the Internet and mobile telephones. The Commission will issue operating licences to companies and personal licences to key personnel.
3. The Commission will not, however, license or regulate either the National Lottery or spread betting, which will remain, respectively, the responsibility of the National Lottery Commission and the Financial Services Authority.
4. The Commission will have extensive regulatory powers over its licensees. It will impose conditions on licences and issue codes of practice about how those conditions can be better achieved. Where licence conditions are breached, regulatory sanctions are available. These include review and alteration, suspension and revocation of licences and the imposition of unlimited financial penalties. There are also criminal sanctions. There will be an Appeals Tribunal. The Government will also have power to impose conditions on operating licences.
5. Local licensing authorities will license gambling premises in their area. In the exercise of their functions under the legislation, they will be required to have regard to guidance issued by the Gambling Commission and will assess whether the premises can be permitted in terms of their possible impact on the licensing objectives. Local authorities will have a specific power to resolve not to issue premises licences for new casinos in their area. Local authorities will have similar regulatory powers to the Commission with respect to their licensees, with the exception of the power to impose financial penalties.
6. The Bill also provides permits for smaller scale gambling, like that that takes place in pubs, clubs and at travelling fairs. It also defines certain low level activities like small incidental lotteries and private betting, which do not need any permission.
Department for Culture, Media and Sport
October 2004
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