Gambling Statement of Principles 2019-2022

Under the Gambling Act 2005 South Gloucestershire Council is the Licensing Authority for the area with responsibilities that include granting premises licenses and permissions in South Gloucestershire in respect of casinos, bingo and betting premises, tracks, adult gaming and family entertainment centres, club and prize gaming permits, temporary notices and the registration of small society lotteries.

South Gloucestershire is now undertaking its regular three year review of the Gambling Statement of Principles and is consulting widely to ensure that anyone who may be affected by or has an interest in the new Statement of Principles (draft) has the opportunity to comment and respond.

The full Draft Gambling Statement of Principles 2019-2022  is available below as part of the consultation documents.

Overview of the Statement of Principles

Licensing objectives: the statement covers how the Council carries out its various licensing functions with a view to promoting the following three licensing objectives set out within the Gambling Act 2005

• Preventing gambling from being a source of crime or disorder, being associated with crime or disorder or being used to support crime
• Ensuring that gambling is carried out in a fair and open way.
• Protecting children and other vulnerable persons from being harmed or exploited by gambling

Interested Parties: the statement covers the principles that the Licensing Authorities will follow in determining an interested party, For example, each case will be decided upon its merits and rigid rules will not be applied.

Enforcement: the principles for enforcement will endeavour to be proportionate, accountable, consistent, transparent and targeted.

Licensing Authority functions: are listed within the Statement of Principles

Related legislation: the statement lists related legislation that the Council is bounded by in undertaking its licensing function.

Premises Licenses: the statement covers general principles such as definitions, location, preventing gambling from being a source of or associated with crime/disorder and protecting children and other vulnerable persons from being harmed or exploited by gambling.

it also covers a new code of practice from the Gambling Commission that came into force in April 2016 which states that Licensees should share their risk assessment with licensing authorities when applying for a premises licence or applying for a variation to existing licensed premises or otherwise on request.

The statement goes on to cover adult gaming centres and family entertainment centres, casinos, bingo and betting premises, race tracks and travelling fairs, provisional statements, permits for temporary and occasional use notices, prize gaming and club gaming.

Decision making, complaints and reviews

The final part of the statement of principles provides information on the allocation of the Council's decision making responsibilities and the Licensing Committee's constitution.

Complaints and reviews: this sets out how the Council may respond to complaints against a licensed premises and equally how it will respond to requests to review a premises licence.

Appendices: these cover contact details for the varied Responsible Authorities, a table of delegations of licensing functions, a glossary of terms, a list of consultees and a map of South Gloucestershire county.

This consultation has now closed and we are analysing the results, which will be published here in due course.