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
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- 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
- 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
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- 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
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- 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
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- 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
What are Regulatory Settlement funds?
One possible outcome of regulatory action against an operator can be a payment in lieu of the financial penalty the Gambling Commission might otherwise impose for breach of a licence condition. This is known as a regulatory settlement. Regulatory Settlements are set in accordance with the Statement of Principles for Determining Financial Penalties.
The Commission publishes the details of those enforcement cases and regulatory settlements on our news page. For more information, see our approach to regulating the gambling industry.
Where a regulatory settlement includes a payment in lieu of a financial penalty, the funds are not paid to the consolidated fund, and must be applied for socially responsible purposes, which address gambling related harm or in some way promote one of the licensing objectives.
As part of the regulatory settlement process, the Commission reserves the power to approve where money goes to that has been paid in lieu of a financial penalty. The Commission does this by assessing proposals for socially responsible projects and then matching regulatory settlement funds to approved projects. Decisions on suitable projects are made by the Executive Team.
The Commission does not take possession of regulatory settlement funds at any time; the money is paid direct from the operator to the organisation delivering the approved project. If staged payments are agreed between the operator and the delivering organisation, and the operator withdraws from the UK market or becomes insolvent before all of the funds have been paid, the Commission will attempt to re-match the project with an alternative source of funds but cannot guarantee this will be possible.
Regulatory settlement funds are different to the annual financial Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP) Research, Education and Treatment (RET) contributions that gambling operators must make as a condition of their licence to operate.
Typically, activities funded by regulatory settlements are kickstart projects. The Executive Team will want to know about how you will evaluate the impact of your project and your plans for sustaining the activity once regulatory settlement funding has ended.
Last updated: 5 October 2023
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Replaced Social Responsibility Funds Group with the Executive Team.