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Operator Licence shares

Request date
8 March 2023

Outcome
Information withheld

Document actions
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Request

We hereby request:

  • to be informed in writing by you whether you hold certain information pursuant to sub-section 1(1)(a) of the Act; and
  • if that is the case, to have that information communicated to us pursuant to sub-section 1(1)(b) of the Act.

Please provide the following information, to the extent that it is in the possession of the Gambling Commission:

  1. The number of operating licences (as defined by section 65 of the Gambling Act 2005) held at any time between 1 January 2007 and the date of this letter by a licensee with in excess of 3% of shares in the licensee or its holding company (as these terms are used in LCCP 15.2.1) listed on a public securities/stock exchange in Canada, the United States, Australia and/or Gibraltar.
  2. Information in your possession concerning measures, arrangements, controls or mechanisms that licensees meeting the criteria at (1) above have in place in order to monitor ownership of shares held on the public securities/stock exchange in excess of 3%.

For the avoidance of doubt, these requests do not seek any identifying details in respect of licensee(s) or their parent(s) or controller(s).

Response

Thank you for your request which has been processed under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).

In your email you have requested:

  1. The number of operating licences (as defined by section 65 of the Gambling Act 2005) held at any time between 1 January 2007 and the date of this letter by a licensee with in excess of 3% of shares in the licensee or its holding company (as these terms are used in LCCP 15.2.1) listed on a public securities/stock exchange in Canada, the United States, Australia and/or Gibraltar.
  2. Information in your possession concerning measures, arrangements, controls or mechanisms that licensees meeting the criteria at (1) above have in place in order to monitor ownership of shares held on the public securities/stock exchange in excess of 3%.

I can confirm that the Gambling Commission does hold information falling within the scope of both parts of your request. However, as this information is not stored in an extractable format, we would be required to review each licensee record to fulfil your request.

Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) makes provision for public authorities to refuse requests for information where the cost of dealing with them would exceed the appropriate limit, which for public authorities, such as the Commission, is set at £450. This represents the estimated cost of one person spending 18 hours in determining whether the department holds the information, locating, retrieving and extracting the information.

We estimate that it would take in excess of 18 hours to determine appropriate material and locate, retrieve and extract any relevant information in reference to your request as there is a high volume of records which may contain relevant information and would need to be checked individually.

When a public authority applies the Section 12 exemption to a request, the FOIA guidance specifically states that a public authority should avoid providing any information found as a result of a search as it denies the requestor the right to express a preference as to which parts of the request they may wish to receive within the appropriate time limit. Guidance on the application of section 12 can be viewed here: https://ico.org.uk/media/for-organisations/documents/1199/costs_of_compliance_exceeds_appropriate_limit.pdf (opens in new tab)

If you are able to narrow your request, we may be able to provide some data by working up to the time limit.

Until we are able to process the search and retrieval of the information you have requested, that can be provided within the statutory time limit, we are unable to ascertain if other exemptions will apply to the material retrieved, which would also prevent disclosure.

Please note, any refined request would be processed as a new request and the 20 working day statutory time limit would apply.

Review of the decision

If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your Freedom of Information request you are entitled to an internal review of our decision. You should write to FOI Team, Gambling Commission, 4th floor, Victoria Square House, Victoria Square, Birmingham, B2 4BP or by reply to this email.

Please note, internal review requests should be made within 40 working days of the initial response. Requests made outside this timeframe will not be processed.

If you are not content with the outcome of our review, you may then apply directly to the Information Commissioner (ICO) for a decision. Generally, the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have already exhausted the review procedure provided by the Gambling Commission.

The ICO can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office (opens in a new tab), Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.

Information Management Team
Gambling Commission
Victoria Square House
Victoria Square
Birmingham B2 4BP

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