Guidance
Guidance to licensing authorities
The Gambling Commission's guidance for licensing authorities.
Contents
- Changes to the Guidance for Licensing Authorities
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
3 - Interested parties
8.9. S.158 of the Act defines interested parties. To accept a representation from an interested party, the licensing authority must take the view that the person:
- lives sufficiently close to the premises to be likely to be affected by the authorised activities
- has business interests that might be affected by the authorised activities
- represents persons in either of these two groups. Licensing authorities will need to have regard to anything an interested party says about their status to make representations.
8.10. The approach taken by licensing authorities in determining who is an interested party should be dealt with in their policy statement. As with responsible authorities, regulations require this information to be in a separate section of the policy statement, as outlined in Part 6 at paragraph 6.18 onwards.
8.11. The following gives further advice on how licensing authorities can determine whether someone is an interested party.
People living close to the premises
8.12. There are a number of factors that licensing authorities should take into account when determining whether a person ‘lives sufficiently close to the premises’. These might include:
- the size of the premises
- the nature of the premises
- the distance of the premises from the location of the person making the representation
- the potential impact of the premises such as the number of customers, routes likely to be taken by those visiting the establishment
- the circumstances of the person who lives close to the premises. This is not their personal characteristics, but their interests which may be relevant to the distance from the premises.
8.13. Relevant factors will depend on the particular application. For example, it is reasonable for a licensing authority to consider that living sufficiently close to premises to likely be affected could have a different meaning for (a) a private resident, (b) a residential school for children with truanting problems and (c) a residential hostel for vulnerable adults.
The nature and scope of business interests that could be affected
8.14. It could be argued that any gambling business could be affected by another gambling business expanding into any part of Great Britain. But that is unlikely to be enough to satisfy the test of being ‘a person with business interests that might be affected by the premises’ under consideration. For example, an operator in a particular sector be it casino, bingo, betting etc, should not be able to lodge representations on every application put in by a rival operator anywhere in the country, simply because they are in competition within the same gambling sector. Specifically, licensing authorities are reminded that the ‘demand test’ from previous gambling legislation does not apply under the Act.
8.15. The licensing authority should be satisfied that the relevant business is likely to be affected. Factors that are likely to be relevant include:
- the size of the premises
- the ‘catchment’ area of the premises, that is, how far people travel to visit the premises
- whether the person making the representation has business interests in that catchment area that might be affected.
People representing those in the above categories
8.16. Interested parties can be people who are democratically elected such as councillors, MSPs, MSs and MPs, as persons representing individuals in the other categories. This would include county, parish and town councillors. Other representatives might include bodies such as trade associations and trade unions, and residents’ and tenants’ associations. A school head or governor might act in representing the interests of pupils or parents and a community group might represent vulnerable people living near to the proposed premises.
8.17. Save for democratically elected persons, licensing authorities should satisfy themselves on a case by case basis that a person does represent interested parties, and request written evidence where necessary. A letter from the interested person(s) they are representing would be sufficient.
Previous sectionResponsible authorities
Last updated: 11 May 2023
Show updates to this content
Formatting changes.