Gambling Act 2005

Statement of Licensing Principles


Preface

A new regime for the licensing and regulation of gambling activities and businesses was introduced by the Gambling Act 2005. The Act transferred the responsibility for granting licences for betting and gaming premises or participating in a lottery, from the courts to local authorities whilst the responsibility for granting operating and personal licences remained with the Gambling Commission.

This Statement of Gambling Policy is reviewed regularly and amended where necessary.This review this time has incorporated the updated licence conditions and codes of practice published by the Gambling Commission.

In an attempt to tackle the potential harmful aspects of gambling the new codes included strengthened social responsibility provisions which are a condition of premise licences that operators must comply with. They include provisions for ensuring children cannot access gambling; improvement for staff to help them interact better with customers and identify potential problem gamblers; the proposal for nationwide exclusion schemes and monetary limits and the requirement for operators of gambling premises to produce a local risk assessment evidencing that they have policies and procedures in place to mitigate these local risks.

I welcome the strengthened provisions for operators of gambling premises and businesses. Historically, in Stockton, we have worked towards maintaining a balance between the interests of our businesses and our residents. We want to ensure that the provisions of the Act are used to provide a positive and beneficial environment for businesses, residents and visitors alike.

Councillor Paul Kirton

Stockton Borough Council Licensing Committee Chairman


CONTENTS

Page

1.Introduction4

2.Declaration4

3.The Borough of Stockton on Tees4

4.Other Data5

5.Licensing Objectives6

6.The Licensing Framework6

7.Licensing Authority Functions7

8.Responsible Authorities7

9.Interested Parties8

10.Consultation9

11.Exchange of Information9

12.Enforcement9

13.The Licensing Process11

14.Premises Licences12

15.Adult Gaming Centres19

16.(Licensed) Family Entertainment Centres20

17.Casinos20

18.Bingo Premises21

19.Betting Premises21

20.Tracks22

21.Travelling Fairs23

22.Provisional Statements24

23.Variations24

24.Reviews25

25.Unlicensed Family Entertainment Centres Gaming Machine Permits27

26.(Alcohol) Licensed Premises Gaming Machine Permits28

27.Prize Gaming Permits29

28.Club Gaming and Club Machines Permits29

29.Temporary Use Notices30

30.Occasional Use Notices (Tracks)31

31.Small Society Lottery Registrations31

32.Further Information31

Appendix A - Table of Delegation of Licensing Functions33

Appendix B - Map of Council Area35

Appendix B – List of maximum permitted stakes and prizes36

Appendix C - List of Contacts38

Appendix D - Useful Links41

Gambling Act 2005

Statement of LICENSING Principles

Part A

1.Introduction

1.1Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council is the Licensing Authority under the Gambling Act 2005 and is responsible for granting premises licences in the Borough of Stockton-on-tees in respect of such premises as:-

  • Casino premises;
  • Bingo premises;
  • Betting premises, including tracks;
  • Adult Gaming Centres;
  • Family Entertainment Centres.

1.2Licensing authorities are required by the Gambling Act 2005 to publish a statement of the principles, which they propose to apply when exercising their functions. This statement must be published at least every three years. The statement must also be reviewed from “time to time” and any amended parts re-consulted upon. The statement must be then re-published.

1.3The formal Statement of Licensing Principles will come into effect on the 31st January 2016and will be available on the Council’s website at

https://www.stockton.gov.uk/community-safety/trading-standards-and-licensing/

2.Declaration

2.1In producing this statement, this licensing authority declares that it has had regard to the licensing objectives of the Gambling Act 2005, the guidance issued by the Gambling Commission, and any responses from those consulted on the statement.

3.The Borough of Stockton-on-Tees

3.1The Borough of Stockton-on-Tees is one of five councils in the Tees Valley district and covers an area of 20,400 hectares and is an area of contrasts – a mixture of busy town centres, urban residential areas and picturesque villages whilst maintaining a strong industrial presence. The population is around 192,400 living in approximately 75,000 households. Stockton-on-Tees is a Borough of wide contrasts; a mixture of busy town centres, urban residential areas and picturesque villages. Stockton-on-Tees Borough area is 20,393 Hectares (Ha)1 in size with a population of 193,1902 living in 83,337 dwellings.3 This gives a population density of 9.4 people per Ha. The Borough’s population has increased by 7.6% since the 2001 Census, whereas across the North East region there has only been an increase in population of 3.7%.

3.2The main urban areas are Stockton, Thornaby, Ingleby Barwick, Billingham and Yarm. These are shown on the map at Appendix B.

3.3 Measuring deprivation against the Department of Communities and Local Government’s indices of multiple deprivation (IMD) 2010, Stockton-on-Tees is ranked 100 out of the 326 local authorities districts in England4; making Stockton-on-Tees within the 35% most deprived areas nationally.

Across the Borough there is a unique social and economic mix, with areas of acute disadvantage situated alongside areas of affluence. Whilst 29% of the population live within the top 20% of least deprived areas of England, 27% live in the 20% most deprived areas.5 In addition, 29 out of the 117 Lower Super Output Areas (LSOAs) across Stockton-on-Tees are within the 20% least deprived LSOAs in England, whereas 34 of the LSOAs are within the 20% most deprived LSOAs in England.

3.4The ethnic composition of the Borough’s population is more diverse now than it was in 2001. In the Census 2011, 93.4% of the population classed themselves as belonging to a White: English/Welsh/Scottish/Northern Irish/British ethnic group, a decrease of 2.8% compared with the Census 2001. The chart below shows the ethnic groups that the rest of the population classed themselves as belonging to and clearly identifies the ethnic community groups where there has been an increase in the Borough.

3.5 The Council’s vision, which is published in the Council Plan 2015 18, is of a Borough that is more confident, more vibrant and more successful than ever before. A place where people prosper and grow, where they feel happy, safe and healthy. A place where people can see that our drive, integrity and imagination have delivered genuine improvements and exceptional value for money. A place that every single one of us is proud of.

4Other Data

4.1 Health on the High Street Report

The Royal Society for Public Health on Health on The High Street underlined the importance of our High Streets to the health and well-being of our residents. The report acknowledged that:

Making high streets a diverse place in which to have fun, and enhance health and wellbeing will make them a more attractive destination for the public, which in turn may help rejuvenate many. The nation’s high streets have huge potential to support the public’s health and wellbeing. As places for people to interact, high streets can play an important role in bringing people together and help foster a sense of community.

The report also highlighted types of premises that the public believed discouraged healthy choices and had a negative impact on mental well-being health. Betting shops were amongst the types of premises identified.

4.2 Gambling Prevalence Survey 2010

Overall, 73% of the adult population (aged 16 and over) participated in some form of gambling in the previous year. This equates to around 35.5 million adults. The most popular gambling activity was the National Lottery. In 2010, 59% of adults had bought tickets for the National Lottery Draw, a slight increase from the rates observed in 2007 (57%) but lower than rates observed in 1999 (65%).

Excluding those who had only gambled on the National Lottery Draw, 56% of adults participated in some other form of gambling in the past year. This highlights a significant increase in past year participation on other gambling activities, such as an increase in betting on other events i.e., events other than horse races or dog races with a bookmaker (3% in 1999, 9% in 2010), buying scratchcards (20% in 2007, 24% in 2010), buying other lotteries tickets (8% in 1999, 25% in 2010), gambling online on poker, bingo, casino and slot machine style games (3% in 2007, 5% in 2010) and gambling on fixed odds betting terminals (3% in 2007,4% in 2010).

Two measures of problem gambling showed rates of problem gambling in the general population of 0.6% and 0.5%. A significant association was found between problem gambling and being male with regular parental gambling. It was also associated with poor health, being single and being Asian/British Asian. The highest prevalence of problem gambling was found among those who participated in spread betting (14.7%), Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBTs) (11.2%) and betting exchanges (9.8%). Of these, only FOBTs are regulated under the Gambling Act 2005.

The council also accepts that the determination of any application under the Gambling Act, whether for the grant, variation or the review of a licence, should be made on the individual circumstances of the application and based on cogent evidence to justify the decision reached. However applicants and licence holders should have regard to all data available including the reports highlighted above.

5Licensing Objectives

5.1The Gambling Act 2005 requires that the Council carries out its various licensing functions with a view to promoting the following three licensing objectives:-

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

5.2It should be noted that the Gambling Commission has stated: “The requirement in relation to children is explicitly to protect them from being harmed or exploited by gambling”.

5.3This licensing authority is aware that, as per Section 153, in making decisions about premises licences and temporary use notices it should aim to permit the use of premises for gambling in so far as it thinks it is:

  • in accordance with any relevant code of practice issued by the Gambling Commission
  • in accordance with any relevant guidance issued by the Gambling Commission
  • reasonably consistent with the licensing objectives and
  • in accordance with the authority’s statement of licensing principles
6The Licensing Framework

6.1The Gambling Act 2005 brought about changes to the way that gambling is administered in the United Kingdom. The Gambling Commission is the national gambling regulator and has a lead role in working with central government and local authorities to regulate gambling activity.

6.2The Gambling Commission issues operators licences and personal licences. Any operator wishing to provide gambling at a certain premises must have applied for the requisite personal licence and operator’s licence before they can approach the council for a premises licence. In this way the Gambling Commission is able to screen applicants and organisations to ensure they have the correct credentials to operate gambling premises. The council’s role is to ensure premises are suitable for providing gambling in line with the three licensing objectives and any codes of practice issued by the Gambling Commission. The council also issues various permits and notices to regulate smaller scale and or ad hoc gambling in various other locations such as pubs, clubs and hotels.

6.3 The council does not licence large society lotteries or remote gambling through websites. These areas fall to the Gambling Commission. The National Lottery is not licensed by the Gambling Act 2005 and continues to be regulated by the National Lottery Commission under the National Lottery Act 1993.

7.Licensing Authority Functions

7.1‘Gambling’ is defined in the Act as either gaming, betting, or taking part in a lottery.

  • gaming means playing a game of chance for a prize
  • betting means making or accepting a bet on the outcome of a race, competition, or any other event ; the likelihood of anything occurring or not occurring; or whether anything is true or not
  • A lottery is where persons are required to pay in order to take part in an arrangement, during the course of which one or more prizes are allocated by a process which relies wholly on chance

7.2Licensing Authorities are required under the Act to:

  • Be responsible for the licensing of premises where gambling activities are to take place by issuing Premises Licences
  • Issue Provisional Statements
  • Regulate members’ clubs and miners’ welfare institutes who wish to undertake certain gaming activities via issuing Club Gaming Permits and/or Club Machine Permits
  • Issue Club Machine Permits to Commercial Clubs
  • Grant permits for the use of certain lower stake gaming machines at unlicensed Family Entertainment Centres
  • Receive notifications from alcohol licensed premises (under the Licensing Act 2003) of the use of two or fewer gaming machines
  • Grant Licensed Premises Gaming Machine Permits for premises licensed to sell/supply alcohol for consumption on the licensed premises, under the Licensing Act 2003, where more than two machines are required
  • Register small society lotteries below prescribed thresholds
  • Issue Prize Gaming Permits
  • Receive and Endorse Temporary Use Notices
  • Receive Occasional Use Notices
  • Provide information to the Gambling Commission regarding details of licences issued (see section on ‘information exchange’)
  • Maintain registers of the permits and licences that are issued under these functions

7.3It should be noted that local licensing authorities will not be involved in licensing remote gambling at all. This will fall to the Gambling Commission via Operator Licences.

8.Responsible Authorities

8.1The licensing authority is required by regulations to state the principles it will apply in exercising its powers under Section 157(h) of the Act to designate, in writing, a body which is competent to advise the authority about the protection of children from harm. The principles are:

the need for the body to be responsible for an area covering the whole of the licensing authority’s area

the need for the body to be answerable to democratically elected persons, rather than any particular vested interest group

8.2In accordance with the Gambling Commission’s Guidance for local authorities this Council designates the Stockton on Tees Local Safeguarding Children Board for this purpose. The four Safeguarding Children Boards on Teesside have developed a Tees Local Safeguarding Children Boards’ Procedures website at Applicants may find this website useful as a point of reference and information, when producing their own policies and procedures in relation to the objective of protection of children and vulnerable people.

The contact details of all the Responsible Bodies under the Gambling Act 2005 are available via the Council’s website at: www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/stockton

https://www.stockton.gov.uk/community-safety/trading-standards-and-licensing/

9.Interested Parties

9.1Interested parties can make representations about licence applications, or apply for a review of an existing licence. These parties are defined in the Gambling Act 2005 as follows:

9.2“For the purposes of this Part a person is an interested party in relation to an application for or in respect of a premises licence if, in the opinion of the licensing authority which issues the licence or to which the applications is made, the person-

(a)lives sufficiently close to the premises to be likely to be affected by the authorised activities,

(b)has business interests that might be affected by the authorised activities, or

(c)represents persons who satisfy paragraph (a) or (b)

9.3The licensing authority is required by regulations to state the principles it will apply in exercising its powers under the Gambling Act 2005 to determine whether a person is an interested party. The principles are:

9.4Each case will be decided upon its merits. This authority will not apply a rigid rule to its decision making. It will consider the examples of considerations provided in the Gambling Commission’s Guidance to local authorities. Note though that decisions on Premises Licences and temporary use notices must be “in accordance” with Gambling Commission Guidance (Section 153). It will also consider the Gambling Commission's Guidance that "has business interests" should be given the widest possible interpretation and include partnerships, charities, faith groups and medical practices.

9.5The Gambling Commission has recommended that the licensing authority states that interested parties include trade associations and trade unions, and residents’ and tenants’ associations. This authority will not however generally view these bodies as interested parties unless they have a member who can be classed as one under the terms of the Gambling Act 2005 e.g. lives sufficiently close to the premises to be likely to be affected by the activities being applied for.

9.6Interested parties can be persons who are democratically elected such as councillors and MP’s. No specific evidence of being asked to represent an interested person will be required as long as the councillor / MP represents the ward likely to be affected. Likewise, parish councils likely to be affected, will be considered to be interested parties. Other than these however, this authority will generally require written evidence that a person/body (e.g. an advocate / relative) ‘represents’ someone who either lives sufficiently close to the premises to be likely to be affected by the authorised activities and/or has business interests that might be affected by the authorised activities. A letter from one of these persons, requesting the representation is sufficient.

9.7If individuals wish to approach councillors to ask them to represent their views then care should be taken that the councillors are not part of the Licensing Committee dealing with the licence application. If there are any doubts then please contact the licensing department (see appendix for contact details).

10.Consultation

This Statement of Licensing Principles has been subject to formal consultation with:

  1. Cleveland police;
  2. Representatives of the holders of the various licences for premises within the Borough who will be affected by this Policy;
  3. Persons/bodies representing the interests of persons likely to be affected by this policy.

11.Exchange of Information

11.1In fulfilling its functions and obligations under the Gambling Act 2005 the Council will exchange relevant information with other regulatory bodies and will establish protocols in this respect. In exchanging such information, the Council will conform to the requirements of data protection and freedom of information legislation in accordance with the Council’s existing policies.