Arcades

Guidance for licensed and unlicensed Family Entertainment Centres and Adult Gaming Centres.

Overview

There are three types of amusement arcade under the Gambling Act 2005.

These are:

1. Adult Gaming Centres (AGCs) - high-street outlets with gaming machines only available to over 18s including slots, casino-style games and fruit machines. AGCs must have a Gambling Commission licence.

2. Unlicensed Family Entertainment Centres (uFECs) - such as family-friendly amusement arcades and small arcades in holiday parks and resorts. Unlicensed FECs must have a permit from the local licensing authority.

3. Family Entertainment Centres (FECs) - larger arcades which cater for a range of ages. They're allowed to provide an unlimited number of certain types of gaming machine in a premises which is open to all ages. Category C machines must be in a segregated, supervised area to stop under 18s from playing. FECs must have a Gambling Commission licence.

Read more about the types of amusement arcades.

Licences and Fees

There are different types of licence that arcade businesses may need to apply for, you may need more than of the following:

• operating licence
• Personal Management Licence
• premises licence
• Annex A for small-scale operators

We issue operating licences and personal licences; premises licences are issued by local licensing authorities.

• Guidance

  Unlicensed Family Entertainment Centres (UFECs)

  UFECs are premises which are wholly or mainly used for making gaming machines available.

Types of operating licence

An operating licence allows you to provide gambling activities to customers in Great Britain.

• Guidance

  Operating licences

  An operating licence is required to provide most gambling facilities in Great Britain.

Licence activities

You can apply to us for a licence to provide arcade games in a premises (non-remote).

Activities

All activities

• Adult gaming centre

  This licence is for Adult Gaming Centres (AGC), often called arcades.

  Further details and fees

• Family entertainment centre

  This licence is for Family Entertainment Centres (FEC), often called arcades.

  Further details and fees

Non-remote licence activities

• Adult gaming centre

  This licence is for Adult Gaming Centres (AGC), often called arcades.

  Further details and fees

• Family entertainment centre

  This licence is for Family Entertainment Centres (FEC), often called arcades.

  Further details and fees

Fees

The fees you need to pay depend on what you are applying for, and what your anticipated gross gambling yield (GGY) is.

• Guidance

  Fees you need to pay and when you should pay them

  Information on the fees for each licence, when these will need to be paid, and the payment methods you can use.

• Guidance

  Annual fees

  Information and guidance about annual fees for operating licence holders.

• Guidance

  Paying fees

  Find out how to pay fees to the Gambling Commission.

Calculating your fees

Our online fees calculator can help you with understanding the amounts of your application, first annual and annual fees.

• Service

  Operating licence fees calculator

  Calculate application, first annual and annual fees for operating licences.

Personal Management Licences

Personal Management Licences allow people to work in certain roles in a gambling business.

Some businesses do not require personal licences to be held. Instead, you need to submit an Annex A. These are required for businesses with three employees or less.

• Guidance

  Personal Management Licence (PML) guide

  Information on PMLs, including the specific roles that require one, the fees you will have to pay, and how you can apply.

Annex A

If your business qualifies as a small-scale operator, you can submit an Annex A instead of applying for a Personal Management Licence.

• Guidance

  Annex A guide

  Information about Annex As and when they are required.

Premises licence

You will need a premises licence to provide arcade games to players in a non-remote setting. You will need to apply to the licensing authority the premises is located, to get a premises licence.

You will need to apply for an operating licence, before you apply for any premises licences.

• Guidance

  Premises licence

  Information on premises licences, which businesses require one, and what you need to do before applying.

Legislation and Policies

Gambling in Great Britain and the Gambling Commission's duties and responsibilities are detailed in the Gambling Act 2005.

The following legislation and policies are also applicable to operating licence holders.

• Gambling Act 2005

  Gambling Act 2005 (link opens in new window)

Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP)

The LCCP outlines the requirements that all operating and personal licence holders must follow.

• Guidance

  Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP)

  The LCCP outlines the requirements that all licensees must follow when running a gambling business or working in the industry.

Policies and guidance

The following guidance and policies are also relevant for all licensees.

• Policy

  Licensing, compliance and enforcement under the Gambling Act 2005

  The Commission’s approach to risk underpins its licensing, compliance and enforcement functions.

• Policy

  Statement of principles for licensing and regulation

  The Commission's statement of principles for licensing and regulation.

• Policy

  Statement of principles for determining financial penalties

  The Commission's statement of principles for determining financial penalties.

• Guidance

  Other policies, advice and guidance notes

  We are gradually removing PDF's from our website. Find published advice notes and guidance in PDF's we've not yet converted.

• Guidance

  Anti-money laundering legislation

  Anti-money laundering legislation and regulatory codes of practice operators must comply with.

Technical standards

All licence holders must comply with our technical standards and requirements. However, these standards should not be used as a measure of reliability, quality or security.

These standards and requirements permit equivalence between different types of technology and do not specify proprietary products or technologies.

Testing regimes for these standards will permit equivalent international standards (ISO).

• Guidance

  Remote gambling and software technical standards (RTS) guidance

  Gambling software and remote operating licence holders (including ancillary remote betting) are required to comply with our remote technical standards (RTS).

• Standards

  Remote gambling and software technical standards (RTS)

  Remote gambling and software technical standards under section 89 and section 97 of the Gambling Act 2005.

• Strategy

  Testing strategy for compliance with remote gambling and software technical standards

  Requirements for the timing and procedures for the testing of remote gambling products.

Getting a licence

You can apply online for an adult gaming centre (AGC) or licensed family entertainment centre (FEC) licence. You do not require a licence for unlicensed family entertainment centres (UFECs).

The length of an arcade application depends on the complexity of your business.

You will need to apply for an operating licence, before you apply for a premises licence from the local licensing authority.

• Guidance

  What you need to send us when you apply for an operating licence

  Find out which documents you will need when applying for an operating licence for your gambling business.

Information you'll need for getting a licence

We will ask you to provide information about you and your business as part of your licence application.

• Guidance

  What you need to send us when you apply for an operating licence

  Find out which documents you will need when applying for an operating licence for your gambling business.

Apply online

You can use our online service to apply for an operating licence.

If you have not used the service before, you'll need an email address only you can access to be able to create an account.

Make sure you include all the information we ask for when you submit your application. If your application is rejected because something is missing, we will not refund your application fee.

• Service

  Apply for a licence to operate a gambling business

  Use this service if you want to apply for a licence to run a gambling business.

Assessing your application

If your application is rejected

We will send you a letter explaining which documents are missing and you'll need to reapply online.

You must provide the missing documents, as well as the documents you included originally, and you will need to pay the application fee again.

• Guidance

  How we assess operating licence applications

  Find out what we consider when assessing an operating licence application.

Your licence

If we grant you a licence to run a gambling business, you will be able to download a copy of your licence from eServices.

You must make your licence available for inspection by request from Gambling Commission staff, licensing authority staff or other official bodies such as the police or fire service.

• Service

  eServices for operating licence holders

  eServices allows operating licence holders to make changes to their licence, submit regulatory returns and other notifications to the Gambling Commission.

When you hold a licence

An important part of the Gambling Commission’s work is to ensure that licence holders are compliant. Compliance requires licence holders to understand and act in accordance with:

• the Gambling Act 2005 (opens in a new tab)
• regulations (statutory instruments) made under the Gambling Act 2005
• the Licence conditions and codes of practice (LCCP)
• any technical standards that apply to operating licences.

Compliance activity is based on risk and the risk that each licensed activity poses to the Gambling Commission’s licensing objectives.

The three licensing objectives are:

• keeping crime out of gambling
• ensuring gambling is conducted fairly and openly
• protecting children and vulnerable people from being harmed or exploited by gambling.

Compliance

Guidance and information for running a compliant gambling business. Including information on how we carry out assessments, your responsibilities under the LCCP and other gambling-related legislation.

• Hub

  Compliance

  How we do compliance assessments and important compliance information.

What you need to tell us

You are required to tell us about certain things that happen in your business, these are dependent on the licences and activities you hold.

• Guidance

  What you need to tell us when you hold an operating licence

  This guidance summarises all of the types of data and information that you are required to tell us when you hold an operating licence.

• Guidance

  Key events for operators

  These guides will inform you of the key events you must tell us about when you hold an operating licence.

• Guidance

  Guidance to operators for age verification test purchasing (non-remote)

  This guidance explains what data we need from you about age verification test purchasing when you hold a non-remote operating licence.

• Guidance

  Regulatory returns guidance

  Guidance for information collected in the Regulatory Returns service by licensing sector.

• Guidance

  Assurance statements

  This guidance explains our data and information requirements if you are required to send us an assurance statement.

• Guidance

  Gaming machine and remote games information requirements

  This guidance explains our data and information requirements for games test, games annual audit and security audit reports.

Public Register

We provide details of all businesses and individuals we licence on our Public Register service.

When you are issued a licence, we will display the details of your licence on the register.

This includes:

• your head office address
• details of the activities you are licensed for and from when
• domain and trading names you've told us about, and
• details of any regulatory action that has been carried out.

• Service

  Public Register of licensees, premises and regulatory actions

  The register lets you search and download information about licensed businesses, individuals and premises. You can also find information about regulatory action we have taken against licensees.

Making changes to your licence

You can make most changes to your licence online, using eServices.

You can:

• add or remove licence activities
• change the activity fee category up or down
• add or remove management or key people in the business
• add or remove trading names
• add or remove domain names for websites where you provide gambling.

Some of these changes require you to pay a fee.

• Service

  eServices for operating licence holders

  eServices allows operating licence holders to make changes to their licence, submit regulatory returns and other notifications to the Gambling Commission.

Surrendering your licence

If you no longer need your licence, you can surrender it.

• Guidance

  Surrender your operating licence

  Find out how to surrender your operating licence partially or in full.