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Personal Management Licences

A society or local authority licensed by the Gambling Commission is required to have at least one Personal Management Licence (PML) holder if they have more than three people in qualifying positions.

A qualifying position is one where an individual by the terms of their appointment has primary responsibility for:

  • the management of the licensed activity (that is, the lottery)
  • the financial affairs of the society
  • ensuring the society complies with the requirements of the Gambling Act
  • the marketing of the lottery
  • management of the IT used in connection with the lottery.

In deciding who should hold the PML a society or local authority should identify the relevant senior individual who takes overall management responsibility for the promotion and proper management of the lottery and for compliance with the regulatory regime as a whole. The PML holder must be a trustee or officer of an unincorporated society, a director of a corporate society or a partner where the society is a partnership. In the case of a local authority lottery the PML holder must be someone in a senior management post who holds the relevant delegated authority from the licensing authority.

If a society has three or fewer people in qualifying positions they will qualify as a small scale operator and will be exempt from the need to have a PML holder. In those circumstances one individual from the society who is identified as the senior person responsible for the overall conduct of the lottery (usually the chief executive, a trustee, director or member of the senior management board) must complete the personal declaration, Annex A declaration, of the Operating Licence application form and submit it to the Commission along with a Criminal Records Bureau form.

A society must not operate any lottery unless it has at least one PML holder or at least one Individual who has submitted an Annex A and is named on the operating licence. If the people holding PMLs or the people who have previously submitted Annex A Personal Declarations under the small scale operator exemption change, the society must notify the Commission as soon as possible. If departures leave the society without a PML holder or anyone who has submitted an Annex A, then a new individual needs to make an application for a PML, or in the case of those operators subject to the small scale operator exemption, submit an Annex A. The latter will also require an amendment to the operating licence. Both instances will require a Criminal Records Bureau check as well as appropriate payment.

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Last updated: 27 November 2023

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Following an audit the 'Personal Management Licence (PML)' link has been updated. Formatting changes.

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