Guidance
Guidance to licensing authorities
The Gambling Commission's guidance for licensing authorities.
Contents
- Changes to the Guidance for Licensing Authorities
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Part 1: General guidance on the role and responsibilities of licensing authorities in gambling regulation
- - Introduction
- - Partnership working between the Commission and licensing authorities – shared regulation
- - Co-ordination and contact
- - Primary legislation
- - Statutory aim to permit gambling
- - The licensing objectives
- - Codes of practice
- - Licensing authority discretion (s.153 of the Act)
- - Local risk assessments
- - Licensing authority policy statement
- - Limits on licensing authority discretion
- - Other powers
- Part 2: The licensing framework
- Part 3: The Gambling Commission
- Part 4: Licensing authorities
- Part 5: Principles to be applied by licensing authorities
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Part 6: Licensing authority policy statement
- - Introduction
- - Fundamental principles
- - Form and content
- - Other matters to be considered
- - Local risk assessments
- - Local area profile
- - Declaration by licensing authority
- - Consultation
- - Reviewing and updating the policy statement
- - Advertisement and publication
- - Additional information to be made available
- Part 7: Premises licences
- Part 8: Responsible authorities and interested parties definitions
- Part 9: Premises licence conditions
- Part 10: Review of premises licence by licensing authority
- Part 11: Provisional statements
- Part 12: Rights of appeal and judicial review
- Part 13: Information exchange
- Part 14: Temporary use notices
- Part 15: Occasional use notices
- Part 16: Gaming machines
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Part 17: Casinos
- - Casino premises
- - Casino games
- - Protection of children and young persons
- - The process for issuing casino premises licences
- - Resolutions not to issue casino licences
- - Converted casinos (with preserved rights under Schedule 18 of the Act)
- - Casino premises licence conditions
- - Mandatory conditions – small casino premises licences
- - Mandatory conditions – converted casino premises licences
- - Default conditions attaching to all casino premises licences
- - Self-exclusion
- Part 18: Bingo
- Part 19: Betting premises
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Part 20: Tracks
- - Definition of a track
- - Track premises licences – differences from other premises licences
- - Betting on tracks
- - Licences and other permissions for the provision of betting facilities
- - Betting on event and non-event days
- - Social responsibility considerations for tracks
- - Gaming machines
- - Self-service betting terminals (SSBTs)
- - Applications
- - Licence conditions and requirements
- Part 21: Adult gaming centres
- Part 22: Licensed family entertainment centres
- Part 23: Introduction to permits
- Part 24: Unlicensed family entertainment centres
- Part 25: Clubs
- Part 26: Premises licensed to sell alcohol
- Part 27: Prize gaming and prize gaming permits
- Part 28: Non-commercial and private gaming, betting and lotteries
- Part 29: Poker
- Part 30: Travelling fairs
- Part 31: Crown immunity and excluded premises
- Part 32: Territorial application of the Gambling Act 2005
- Part 33: Door supervision
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Part 34: Small society lotteries
- - Small society lotteries
- - The status of lotteries under the Act
- - Licensing authority guidance
- - Social responsibility
- - External lottery managers’ licence status
- - Lottery tickets
- - Prizes
- - Specific offences in relation to lotteries
- - Application and registration process for small society lotteries
- - Administration and returns
- Part 35: Chain gift schemes
- Part 36: Compliance and enforcement matters
- Appendix A: Summary of machine provisions by premises
- Appendix B: Summary of gaming machine categories and entitlements
- Appendix C: Summary of gaming entitlements for clubs and alcohol-licensed premises
- Appendix D: Summary of offences under the Gambling Act 2005
- Appendix E: Summary of statutory application forms and notices
- Appendix F: Inspection powers
- Appendix G: Licensing authority delegations
- Appendix H: Poker games and prizes
- Appendix I: Glossary of terms
4 - Powers of entry in Scotland
36.18. In Scotland, the relevant licensing authority is called a licensing board. The powers of licensing boards are the same as to those of licensing authorities in England and Wales.
36.19. However, the wording of s.304(2) of the Act has created an anomaly in Scotland where the equivalent of a licensing officer is a licensing standards officer (LSO). Although s.304(2) of the Act was intended to provide licensing authorities with the opportunity to empower licensing authority staff already involved in licensing, it does not specifically apply to licensing standards officers in Scotland who are not directly employed as officers of the licensing authority but rather by the local authority. The licensing boards are separate and LSOs are deliberately legally separated from the boards.
36.20. S.304(3) and (4) of the Act provide licensing authorities in Scotland with the opportunity to empower LSOs and council staff involved in other regulatory roles, such as trading standards officers and environmental health officers, to exercise the powers of authorised persons under the legislation. Indeed, council staff like environmental health officers are already authorised persons under the Act by virtue of the legislation they enforce.
36.21. The Commission encourages local authorities to deploy suitably trained authorised persons under the Act to ensure that gambling is regulated effectively and that the public are afforded the protections set out in the three licensing objectives. The advice note The role of authorised persons in Scotland (opens in new tab) (this advice does not form part of the Guidance to licensing authorities) sets out the Commission’s understanding of the powers of authorised persons in Scotland. The note also offers guidance to licensing authorities and others about how they might contribute to effective co-regulation of the gambling industry in Scotland.
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Illegal gambling
Last updated: 19 April 2023
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