Report by Public Protection Manager (attached).

The Committee considered a report by the Public Protection Manager (circulated previously) regarding the review of Gambling Act Statement of Licensing Principles.

The Public Protection Manger advised that North Devon Council was under a legal obligation to review its Gambling Statement of Licensing Principles on a three yearly basis.

She explained that the report sought to consult members of the Licensing and Community Safety Committee on a proposed draft revision to the Council’s Gambling Statement of Licensing Principles, in which minor variations were sought, after which a consultation exercise was proposed to follow. It was further suggested that the Council re-consider its stance on whether it should put in place a No Casino Resolution, and if so include this as part of any consultation.

The feedback received as a result of the consultation exercise would then be considered by the Licensing and Community Safety Committee at its meeting on 10^th September 2024, prior to a recommendation being made for the adoption of an amended Statement of Principles to Strategy and Resources Committee on 4^th November 2024 for approval with or without the amendment by Full Council on 20^th November 2024.

She explained that the proposed tracked changes to the Gambling Act 2005 Statement of Licensing Principles detailed in appendix B were not showing on the version that had been published as part of the agenda. So, she uploaded the document to the screen for Members to see where those changes were being proposed.

She drew the Committee’s attention to the following elements within the report and appendices:

·       Section 349(3) of the Gambling Act 2005 required licensing authorities to consult the following when making any revision to the Statement of Principles:

 

Ø  The Chief of Police for the authority’s area;

Ø  One or more persons who appeared to the authority to represent the interests of persons carrying on gambling businesses in the authority’s area; and

Ø  One or more persons who appeared to the authority to represent the interests of persons who were likely to be affected by the exercise of the authority’s functions under the Act.

 

·       Bodies and organisations to be consulted were outlined in the Statement of Principles. Providing transparency over this list allowed additional bodies to approach the Council should they wish to be included in the next round of consultation. Additional organisations had been added by way of this review, inclusive of the Betting and Gaming Council; The Bingo Association; and Gamble Aware.

·       The draft revised statement would be published on the Council’s website.

·       Subsequent to the last review of the Gambling Statement of Principles, there had been a revision to the Gambling Commission’s Guidance to Local Authorities in April 2023, however this appeared to be largely in document formatting and thus there were no major changes in advice to consider in terms of the guidance as part of this review.

·       The Government published the Gambling Act review on 8^th December 2020. Its purpose was to examine whether the 2005 Act provided the right “balance of regulation” in the digital age. The review noted concerns that too many people were “still experiencing significant harm” when gambling. There was therefore a need to look at whether “further protections” were needed to prevent the exploitation of vulnerable people. At the same time, the review wanted to respect the freedom of adults to choose how they spend their money, and the “value of a responsible industry which protects players, provides jobs and pays taxes”. A call for evidence on the review closed on 31^st March 2021.

·       There were around 16,000 responses to the Gambling Act review. The Government originally planned to issue its response by the end of 2021, but a Gambling White Paper was published on 27 April 2023. In a statement to the House of Commons, Lucy Frazer, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, observed that smartphones had “transformed” gambling and the temptation to gamble was “everywhere”. While the “overwhelming majority” of gambling was done safely and within people’s means”, for some it could lead to addiction and “shattered families; lost jobs; foreclosed homes; jail time; suicide.

·       Appendix A of the report provided an indication of the main areas of review, which whilst not all necessarily relevant to the subject of this Gambling Licensing Statement of Principles Review, would be of relevance to members to enable a broader understanding of the Government’s current objectives pertaining to gambling.

 

She referred the Committee to the following references within the White paper, which were of most relevance to the Council’s obligations under the Gambling Act 2005:

 

Ø  A proposal to “Bring the local authority licensing regime into line with that for alcohol by legislating to introduce a formal system of cumulative impact assessments (CIAs), when Parliamentary time allowed.

Ø  Consult on raising the cap for the fees licensing authorities could charge adult gaming centres, betting premises, bingo premises, casinos and family entertainment centres for premises licences.

·       The Public Protection Manager went on to detail areas of proposed change in the draft Statement of Licensing Principles, initially detailing the changes to the number of licensed premises in the district subsequent to the last review. Numbers were detailed below as follows:

 

Ø  Bingo establishments = 2 (previously 0).

Ø  Adult Gaming Centres = 2 (previously 3).

Ø  Family Entertainment Centres = 1.

Ø  Unlicensed Family Entertainment Centre Permits – 12 (previously 19).

Ø  Betting shops = 4 (previously 7).

Ø  Notification or permit for gaming machines = 131 (previously 142).

Ø  Club Machine Permits = 9.

 

 

·       The consultation was proposed to run for a period of six weeks. However, depending on the preparation time it could run for up to eight weeks.

 

The Public Protection Manager then drew the Committee’s attention to the following amendments:

·       Appendix B:

 

Ø  Paragraph 10.11: The inclusion of a link to the “premises inspection templates used by the Council.

Ø  Section 14: Gambling Prevalence and Social Responsibility. This was a new section that had been included as part of the revisions to the “Statement of Principles” and included a link to the Gambling Commission’s “Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice – Gambling Commission (LCCP)”.

Ø  Section 15: Local Risk Assessments, the inclusion of a link to the Gambling Commission’s Social Responsibility Code (Licence Conditions and “Codes of Practice (LCCP) 10.1.1”.

Ø  Section 16:

 

o   Paragraph 16.1: General points regarding Gaming Machines, the inclusion of a link to the different categories of machine.

o   Paragraph 16.2: Location of together with access to such machines by children and young persons in licensed premises, the inclusion of a link to “Section C – Gaming machines in clubs and premises with an alcohol licence”.

o   Inclusion of a new section in relation to “Gaming in Alcohol Licensed Premises”.

 

This section included links to the following documents:

 

§  “Exempt gaming in pubs – Gambling Commission”.

§  Section B – “Equal chance gaming in clubs and premises with an alcohol licence”.

§  Section C – “Gaming machines in clubs and premises with an alcohol licence – Gambling Commission”.

§  Section C – “Gaming machines in clubs and premises with an alcohol licence”.

§  Web site links to further information on Poker and gaming together with the “Poker and race night toolkit”.

 

Ø  Part B – Premises Licences: Consideration of Applications, inclusion of the following:

 

o   General Principles - paragraph 1: Link to “Mandatory and Default Conditions”.

 

 

Ø  Part C – Other Miscellaneous Issues, inclusion of the following:

 

o   Paragraph 1.22 inclusion of link: The Council also encourage premises to sign up to the British Amusement Catering Trade Association (BACTA) Voluntary “Code”.

 

·       Paragraph 4.18 of the main report made reference to the option for the Committee to consider a recommendation for a “No casino” resolution. Under section 166 of the Act a licensing authority may resolve not to issue casino premises licences. North Devon Council had no casinos, and had not passed a No Casino Resolution. The Statement of Principles currently cited that the Council was aware that it had the power to create a resolution and should Full Council decide in the future to pass such a resolution, it would update the Statement of Principles with details of that resolution.

·       She referenced paragraphs 4.20 to 4.29 of the report, which detailed the full explanation and impact of any decision to recommend a “No casino” resolution. Paragraph 4.27 of the report noted that whilst the number of active licensed premises had decreased from 148 in 2015 to 144 in 2022 it remained important that the Council considered whether or not to implement a “No casino” resolution.

In response to a question regarding the social responsibility of employees of gambling establishments towards potentially vulnerable people and how they would ensure to regulate a person who tried to gamble beyond their means. The Public Protection Manager advised that people could self-exclude and that there were significant fines for operators who did not adhere to the rules.

She added that if the Committee did decide to implement the “No casino” resolution, they would need to stipulate valid reasons for the Strategy and Resources Committee to consider and this would be reviewed on a three yearly basis. At the current time the Council could be at risk if there was a change in legislation regarding casino licences within the North Devon area.

Following consideration of the report, the Committee agreed and discussed the following:

·       To include Age Concern Barnstaple and North Devon to the list of consultees under paragraph 4.2 of appendix B.

·       Concerns regarding the impact of casinos on the tourism industry for the area together with the local community. 

 

RESOLVED:

a)    that the draft revised Gambling Statement of Licensing Principles found within Appendix B (this was a tracked document highlighting the amendments made to the current policy) be consulted upon;

 

b)    that the “No Casino Resolution” proposed by Members be included as part of the Statement of Licensing Principles consultation to seek wider public opinion in relation to the adoption of such a resolution; and

 

c)    that the Public Protection Manager commence a six week process of public consultation on the above draft revised Gambling Statement of Principles and any potential No Casino Resolution.