June 2023

Welcome to the June edition of the Licensing Authority Bulletin.

In this month's edition:

Gambling White Paper
Birmingham City Council/Aston University
William Hill Penalty
Bingo in pubs and clubs
Report into gambling harms campaign
GambleAware - National Gambling Support Network

Gambling White Paper

On 27 April, the Government published its Gambling Act Review White Paper. Alongside this, the Gambling Commission published its advice to Government.

Andrew Rhodes, Gambling Commission chief executive said: “The gambling industry has changed significantly since 2005 and our advice sets out changes that will ensure Britain is the safest and fairest place to gamble in the world.

“The review is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to deliver positive change for gambling in Great Britain and for all people impacted by it. Everyone at the Commission welcomes today’s publication of the White Paper and is determined to work with Government and partners to make these changes a reality. Given the correct powers and resources, the Gambling Commission can continue to make gambling safer, fairer and crime free. This White Paper is a coherent package of proposals which we believe can significantly support and protect consumers, and improve overall standards in the industry.

"As the detailed implementation of the review now begins, we will also be reiterating to all operators that the Commission will strongly maintain its focus on consumer protection and compliance.”

Of potential interest to Licensing Authorities, amongst other issues, is the proposal to enable unused 2005 Act casino licences to be reallocated to other local authorities, the possibility of a Cumulative Impact Assessment for gambling premises, a gambling premises fees review (England and Wales only), a review of the different categories of machines ratios in AGCs and bingo premises, and greater numbers of machines in casinos.

Birmingham City Council/Aston University

Birmingham City Council (BCC), in conjunction with Aston University, have been undertaking a project to investigate the relationship between gambling harm and their social housing tenants. BCC has now produced the webpages you can read using the link above on their website. The Council have already received interest from Registered Social Landlords in the City to explore the scheme further.

William Hill Penalty

In March, the Gambling Commission announced that three William Hill Group businesses would pay a record £19.2m penalty for breaches of the LCCP including non-remote issues.

WHG (International) Limited, which runs williamhill.com, will pay £12.5 million, Mr Green Limited, which runs mrgreen.com, will pay £3.7 million and William Hill Organization Limited, which operates 1,344 gambling premises across Britain, will pay £3 million.

Andrew Rhodes, Gambling Commission chief executive, said: “When we launched this investigation the failings, we uncovered were so widespread and alarming serious consideration was given to licence suspension.

“However, because the operator immediately recognised their failings and worked with us to swiftly implement improvements, we instead opted for the largest enforcement payment in our history.”

Further information can be found by clicking the link in the header.

Bingo in pubs and clubs

The Commission has seen an increasing number of queries about bingo events being held in pubs and clubs, often regarding operators who organise events across GB. As a reminder of the regulatory requirements:

Operators generally rely on the alcohol licence issued to other businesses to hold their bingo events at those venues.
However, should an operator cross the £2,000 per week threshold as outlined in section 281 of the Act, the operator would be required to obtain an operating licence from the Commission
A Gambling Commission operating licence creates the entitlement for it to generate stakes or prizes greater than £2,000 per week while continuing to trade from alcohol-licensed premises (ie its operating licence entitles it to conduct high turnover bingo as per section 281 of the Act)
However they can continue to offer bingo within the rules for exempt gaming in alcohol licensed premises. (For example, they cannot charge a participation fee for playing bingo)

The provisions of section 279 of the Act are therefore relevant. In short, the limitations of exempt gaming mean that:

An operator cannot charge a participation fee to customers. They are still allowed to collect money that goes on to form the participant’s gaming stake, but the operator cannot charge a fee as profit, nor otherwise deduct any sums from the stake or prize amounts.
Section 344 of the Act states that a charge for admission to premises where gambling takes place is to be treated as participation fee. Any operator may set up their facilities so that the fee they charge for entry is for admission to the entertainment only rather than an admission fee for bingo gaming. As such, customers must have the opportunity to enter and play bingo without being compelled to pay the entertainment fee.

For example: the entertainment fee + bingo stakes + the booking fee for third party. The website on which tickets are bought should be transparent about how the price is subdivided.

Consistent with the point above that no sum can be deducted from stakes, the sum of all stakes accrued must therefore be returned to players as prizes.
There are maximum stakes of £5 per person per game. There is no maximum prize for bingo under exempt gaming rules.

Report into gambling harms campaign

Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) has produced a report on their successful campaign ‘Odds Are: They Win’ which reached over 1.4million people in Greater Manchester. The version you can view on their website is the summary report. If you would like to see the full document and meet with GMCA's gambling harms team to discuss it please email them on harm.reduction@greatermanchester-ca.gov.uk.

To find out more about the campaign, visit the GMCA website and the campaign twitter page for further information on GMCA’s gambling harms work.

GambleAware - National Gambling Support Network

GambleAware has announced a new national support network. Of particular interest to both LAs and Public Health teams is that it aims for a specific focus on ‘early intervention and adopts a regional-first approach.’ A further objective is ‘improved referral routes, allowing local providers to triage individuals into the treatment service that is right and appropriate for them.’

Useful links and resources

Some quick guides are designed to give to operators when undertaking visits, others provide an accessible ‘how to’ for licensing staff:

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