Category: Woods Whur

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Gambling Commission Consultations – Society Lotteries Reform

The long awaited and much anticipated changes to society lotteries appear to finally be making some movement. On 19 December 2019, the Gambling Commission opened a consultation on society lottery reform, following the Government announcement in July 2019 confirming that it intends to amend Section 99(3) of the Gambling Act 2005.

The intended amendments are to raise the current lottery proceeds limits, meaning that a maximum individual prize will raise from £400,000 to £500,000.

In addition, the annual aggregate proceeds limit will rise from £10 million to £50 million once the order has been implemented.

The order will make changes to the limits in legislation however, these changes also need to be reflected by the Gambling Commission in order that they are changed on the Licensing Condition and Codes of Practice (LCCP). For the changes that are to be made to the LCCP, the Gambling Commission have to consult on any proposed changes and this is what they are now doing in anticipation of the change to the law.

The current consultation closes on 12 March 2020 and all lottery operators and those in the industry are encouraged to provide submissions on this consultation.

The lottery sector is a form of fund raising for good causes, and the increase in limits is a welcome changed to lottery operators in the wider fund raising projects.

We will certainly be keeping an eye on any further changes and will be on the lookout for the consultation response in or around March 2020.

If you would like to discuss any aspects of lottery law and/or compliance with the Gambling Act 2005, then please do not hesitate to get in touch with Sarah Frow or Andy Woods at Woods Whur.

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TENs – some dates for your diary

Happy New Year! 2020 is upon us and that means that you have a brand spanking new allocation of TENs (Temporary Event Notices) to play with (15 TENs covering no more than 21 days).

We’ve produced a list of some key dates for your diary, but it’s also worth reminding oneself about some of the rules and regulations around TENs generally.

There are two types of TEN – a TEN (sometimes referred to as a Standard TEN) and a Late TEN.

A TEN can be given at any time, but must be given at least 10 clear working days before the event in question. For those unfamiliar with the term “clear working days” it means that you discount the day you submit the TEN and the day of the event.

A Late TEN must be given at least 5 clear working days before the event in question (and no more than 9  clear days before the event otherwise it’s just a TEN).

A TEN or Late TEN can last for up to 7 days (168 hours) and the capacity of the area covered by the TEN is 499 including staff.

A couple of things to watch out for:

  1. If you gave a TEN for NYE (after 00:00) then you will have used some of your allotted allocation for 2020 (15 TENs covering 21 days)
  2. “Days” in TEN-terms are complicated. A TEN starting at 8pm and finishing at 2 in the morning counts as one TEN, but two of your allotted 21 days. Bear this in mind.
  3. Despite being designed to be “light touch” and “easy” TENs can and frequently are very complicated. The form itself runs to 13 pages including notes. If in any doubt about what you’re doing get in touch and we’d be delighted to help!

Without further ado, here’s the dates for your diary for the first 6 months of the year. We’ll make sure you’re kept up to date throughout the year.

Event Date Last date to give a TEN Last date to give a Late TEN
January 2020
None – January is just… well, January is just horrible. Best just to get it over and done with
February 2020
NFL Superbowl (American Football) 2 February 2020 17 January 2020 24 January 2020
Valentine’s Day 14 February 2020 30 January 2020 6 February 2020
Wilder v Fury II (Boxing) 22 February 2020 7 February 2020 14 February 2020
March 2020
St. David’s Day 1 March 2020 14 February 2020 21 February 2020
The Cheltenham Festival (Horse Racing) 10 March 2020 (first day of festival) 24 February 2020 2 March 2020
St. Patrick’s Day 17 March 2020 2 March 2020 9 March 2020
April 2020
Good Friday 10 April 2020 26 March 2020 2 April 2020
Easter Monday 13 April 2020 27 March 2020 3 April 2020
May 2020
Early Spring Bank Holiday 8 May 2020 23 April 2020 30 April 2020
FA Cup Final (Football) 23 May 2020 8 May 2020 15 May 2020
Late Spring Bank Holiday 25 May 2020 8 May 2020 15 May 2020
UEFA Champions League Final (Football) 30 May 2020 15 May 2020 22 May 2020
June 2020
UEFA Euro 2020 (Football) 12 June 2020 (first day of tournament) 28 May 2020 4 June 2020
Royal Ascot (Horse Racing) 16 June 2020 (first day of meeting) 1 June 2020 8 June 2020
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Out with the old and in with the new.

As we say goodbye to 2019 and look forward to 2020 we are in the midst of a move to our new offices in Leeds. From 2nd January 2020 we will have a new HQ in Leeds. After 8 years in Devonshire House we are moving to ST JAMES HOUSE, 28 PARK PLACE, LEEDS LS1 2SP. We are really pleased with our new offices which are spacious and modern, allowing for the continued growth we have seen in 2019. Amanda Usher became our first trainee Solicitor after working for us as a paralegal and Kirstan Lounsbach joined to further strengthen the Leeds based admin team. Luke Elford joined us in London from TLT to continue the development of our London presence as we moved our London offices to 42-46 Princelet Street, London, E1 5LP .

It has been an amazing year. Andy has had several trips abroad as our international gambling client base has grown significantly. We are seeing continued growth in this sector and I am hopeful I can make another exciting announcement in this area in the New Year. We have seen a hike in regulatory interaction in the Gambling Sector, with the Gambling Commission looking particularly closely at operators and their compliance with social responsibility, money laundering and proceeds of crime conditions. It has been very clear that the Commission is keen to act if they feel operators do not have first rate systems to ensure a transparent and safe gambling sector in the UK. We really do not see this slowing down and have written, and will continue to write, bulletins on this in 2020.

I have been doing much more work in the music sector, securing premises licences for Field Day festival, Drumsheds, Shindig festival on the back of successful applications for Printworks, Dock x and Exhibition in London. This is a really exciting area to be working in and it is always interesting to be involved in the SAG process around these major events. Again, we have some new and exciting developments in this area for 2020 and only see this area growing as we move forward.

As well as representing large multi-site operators, as a firm we have always represented some of the best independents in the country. 2019 has been a particularly strong year for our clients in this sector with a raft of new award winning openings around the country. It is still very exciting to be involved with these operators from site finding, proactive advice, delivering a new licence to celebrating with the client at opening events and seeing the premises flourish.

The Regulatory team has had some major successes this year in both defending operators when systems have gone wrong and let them down, as well as giving pro-active advice to operators to avoid the pitfalls which can be hugely impactful to businesses. The Regulatory team continue to be very active in the Taxi sector, which is a very active area of licensing and regulation. James and his team held a fantastic regulatory conference this year and we will be looking to hold a Gambling conference and other training events through 2020. Luke and I both spoke at the Institute of Licensing National Conference, and James spoke at the regional conference in York. We will continue to support and speak at IOL events.

We are looking forward to dealing with whatever 2020 throws at us. We have a new Government and movement on Brexit. It will be interesting to see what impact this has on the leisure sector, a bit of movement and more certainty will definitely help. With the amount that needs to be undertaken by central Government on these and big ticket issues we don’t foresee any major regulatory/legislator changes. That is not to say we wont see changes brought about by litigation through the courts creating interpretation of the legislation.

Everyone at Woods Whur wish you all a productive New Year; profits for the operators; safe environments for the regulators; exciting new developments and innovation. Back to the unpacking now though so we can settle into the new offices and hit the ground running for the new year.

Paddy Whur

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Health and Safety statistics – what does it tell us?

The latest workplace figures for health and safety statistics have been published by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and provides some interesting reading.

Broadly, there were 1.4 million work-related ill health cases in 2018/19 and the annual costs of work-related injury and new cases of work-related ill health in 2017/18 (excluding long latency illnesses) was a cost of £15 billion.

In addition to the cost, the overall working days lost due to work-related ill health and non-fatal workplace injuries in 2018/19 was a total of £28.2 million. This, in itself, would prove to be costly to any business and not only financially, as inevitably employees being unexpectedly absent naturally has a knock on effect to other employees, productivity etc. The rate of self-reported work related ill health has shown a general downward trend but has been flat in recent years

Sadly, there were 2,526 deaths as a result of mesothelioma, with a similar number of lung cancer deaths linked to past exposures to asbestos. In addition, there were 12,000 lung disease deaths each year estimated to be linked to past exposures at work. These particular statistics released show that control of asbestos is as important as ever to prevent exposure. Experience has shown employers still neglect control measures in this area.

Work related stress, depression or anxiety also features in the summary statistics and identifies that public administration/defence is the sector with the highest rate of stress, followed by human health and social work, and education. These illnesses such as stress and depression has shown signs of increasing in recent years. Estimates of the main cause of work-related stress and depression suggest a mixture of workload, lack of support, violence, threats or bullying and changes to work. Again with non-tangible issues such as stress the solution is clearly seen as one that had a health and safety element to it – not a HR and medical one, which I think employers have been guilty of in the past confining it to.

The most common accident kinds are, unsurprisingly, slips, trips or falls on the same level followed by handling, lifting or carrying. The rate of self-reported non-fatal injury does show a downward trend. There were 69,208 non-fatal injuries reported under RIDDOR in 2018/19. RIDDOR reportable accidents mean that a notification is made to the HSE or the relevant council. That then means an inspection and possibly Fee For Intervention (FFI) costs or an improvement notice, or even a prosecution. If there is no accident then it is likely that there will be no (or reduced likelihood of a) visit by the HSE and further contingency resources being put into responding to something that could have been avoidable.

The statistics are certainly food for thought and provide a helpful summary for those in the safety industry to consider. A summary of the statistics can be found at http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/overall/hssh1819.pdf and provide a useful one stop shop for these recent statistics.

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Minimum Unit Pricing to be introduced in Wales

The Welsh Government has voted to approve The Public Health (Minimum Price for Alcohol) (Wales) Act 2018 which will make it an offence for alcohol to be supplied below a fixed minimum unit price (MUP), likely to be 50p per unit. The law will come into force on 2 March 2020.

The decision to approve the legislation is based on research which suggests that MUP will:

  1. result in 66 fewer deaths and 1,281 fewer hospital admissions in Wales per annum;
  2. save the Welsh NHS more than £90m in direct healthcare costs over the next 20 years;
  3. will reduce workplace absence by 9,800 days per year; and
  4. contribute £783m to the Welsh economy in terms of the reduction of alcohol related illness; crime and workplace absence.

The Welsh Government say that the new law will support the Government’s work to tackle harmful drinking by addressing the availability and affordability of cheap, strong alcohol. The move has been welcomed by the Welsh Health Minister, Vaughn Gething, and the Chief Medical Officer for Wales, Dr. Frank Atherton, who said that the move “could help save many lives.”

With Scotland and now Wales having introduced MUP is it only a matter of time before Westminster follow suit? Time will tell and as always we will keep you updated with all the latest developments.

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Changes to the Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP)

The Gambling Commission are often consulting on a number of topics which concern the gambling sector and we always encourage our clients to regularly keep up to date with open consultations that may affect their operations and provide responses to any consultations where they can.

One of the big calls to evidence and consultations this year was that of the use of credit cards for gambling, and you may well have seen media coverage of this in the news too.

At the time of writing, there are no Gambling Commission consultations open however we await responses to the following closed consultations and calls to evidence:

  • Gambling with credit cards (closed on 06 November 2019)
  • Test House framework development consultation (closed 31 October 2019)
  • Gambling Commission calls for evidence on Category B gaming machines (closed 16 May 2019)

The Gambling Commission consultation for either banning or limiting the use of credit cards for gambling will have a wide impact on the entire gambling sector. Following the call for evidence the Gambling Commission have learnt that there are risks of harm associated with using them however it also confirmed that not all credit card gamblers are problem gamblers therefore they want to minimise the impact on any changes following the consultation.

The data indicates that credit cards are a more popular method of payment than overdrafts and loans. It is thought that those at risk of harm from using credit cards may be harmed by using overdrafts and loans to gamble with similar financial consequences. Over 20% of online gamblers are likely to be experiencing negative consequences from gambling, according to the call for evidence leading to negative consequences.

Risks associated are significant enough to cause harm therefore the Gambling Commission seek to either ban or restrict use of credit cards.

In respect of current confirmed upcoming LCCP changes, these include the 01 January 2020 when the gambling operators have to donate to a list of bodies provided by the Gambling Commission, rather than not being stipulated as was the case previously. Following the Gambling Commission consultation on credit cards, it is likely we will see further LCCP changes around April time 2020.

We will be continuously reporting on any changes to the LCCP and urge those in the gambling sector to keep up to date with developments.

If you want to know more about the LCCP changes and how you, as an operator, can ensure you keep compliant please do not hesitate to contact us.

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Grenfell Tower publish phase 1 report – what does it mean?

The highly anticipated report following the conclusion of phase 1 (of 2) of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry has been published this week which you should have not failed to see in the news despite Brexit!

For those of you in construction industry & it’s supply chain, landlords, property management, involved in the design and refurbishment of premises or in any way connected with buildings for residential use or vulnerable occupants, the worst is yet to come. Phase 1 dealt with the evening of the fire itself and, although not the intention of the inquiry, has also made a comment in respect of the ACM cladding used on the outside of the high rise residential tower. This shows the importance of this aspect of the issues and highlights that recommendations will heavily focus on this following conclusion of phase 2.

Phase 2 of the public inquiry will commence in January 2020, and the recent phase 1 report has confirmed that a number of key issues have come to light that will be considered in the phase 2 stage of the public inquiry that have not been considered in detail to date:

  • The decisions relating to the design of the refurbishment and the choice of materials.
  • The regime for testing and certifying the reaction to fire of materials intended for use in construction.
  • The design and choice of materials.
  • The performance of fire doors in the tower, in particular, whether they complied with relevant regulations, their maintenance and the reasons why some of the self-closing devices do not appear to have worked.
  • The organisation and management of the LFB, in particular in relation to the formulation of policy in the light of experience, the arrangements for training firefighters and control room staff, and the arrangements for sharing information about the particular problems associated with fighting fires in high-rise buildings.
  • The warnings of potential fire hazards given by the local community.
  • The authorities’ response to the disaster.

Contrary to some of the media reports that have been published to date, the sole blame for the Grenfell Tower fire has not been placed on the London Fire Brigade and the public inquiry has not yet concluded.

The phase 1 report does criticise the London Fire Brigade but there are any more elements to the Grenfell Tower tragedy which will be addressed as the public inquiry continues.

We will be keeping a watching brief on the developments of the inquiry and will provide regular updates as it progresses.

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Gambling Commission Publish the Young People and Gambling Survey 2019.

The Gambling Commission have released their research study among 11-16 year olds in Great Britain. A full copy of the report can be found at the following link: https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/PDF/Young-People-Gambling-Report-2019.pdf

This will take you to the Young People and Gambling Survey of 2019.

The report which was published earlier in October explores the gambling behaviours of young people aged between 11-16 years old in England, Scotland and Wales. It disseminates a survey that was conducted by Ipsos MORI on behalf of the Gambling Commission.

The headline findings of the report are as follows:-

  • 11% of 11-16 year olds say they spent their own money on gambling activities in the 7 days prior to taking part in the survey. This is down from 14% in the previous year.
  • 5% of 11-16 year olds say they have placed a private bet for money (e.g. with friends) in the past 7 days, with a further 3% playing cards for money in the past 7 days.
  • 4% of 11-16 year olds report playing on fruit or slot machines in the past 7 days.
  • 3% of 11-16 year olds say they have played National Lottery Scratch Cards and 2% say they have played the Lotto draw in the past 7 days.
  • 69% of 11-16 year olds say they have seen or heard gambling adverts or sponsorship with 83% of those saying that it had not prompted them to gamble.
  • 7% of 11-16 year olds are classified as problem gamblers, 2.7% are classified as at risk. In 2018 those figures were 1.7% and 2.2%.

The Gambling Commission do not feel that the 2019 results represent a significant increase since the previous report.

Tim Miller, executive director of the Gambling Commission said:

“This report demonstrates that children and young people’s interaction with gambling or gambling behaviours comes from 3 sources – gambling that they are legally allowed to participate in, gambling on age restricted products and gambling style games. Any child or young person that experiences harm from these areas is a concern to us and we are absolutely committed to doing everything we can to protect them from gambling harms.

Most of the gambling covered by this report takes place in ways which the law permits, but we must keep working to prevent children and young people from having access to age restricted products. Where operators have failed to protect children and young people, we have and will continue to take firm action. This year alone, we have tightened rules and requirements around age verification to prevent children and young people from accessing age restricted products, put free to play games behind pay walls and clamped down on irresponsible products.”

Earlier this month, the Gambling Commission’s chief executive, Neil McArthur, set out clear expectations for the gambling industry about how he wants operators to use data to avoid targeting advertising at young and vulnerable people.

Through the work of the national strategy to reduce gambling harms, the Gambling Commission says that it is developing a range of education and prevention programs to put in place to protect children and young people. This includes partnerships with Gamble Aware and Parent Zone, who offer support for parents and guardians to help them deal with issues around playing gambling style games and gambling.

The report and other initiatives show that the Gambling Commission continue to take the wellbeing of children as a premium in relation to gambling activities. This was also seen last year when the Gambling Commission reported on the back of test purchasing of pubs that they found 88% of pubs in England failed to prevent children accessing 18+ gaming machines.

This is clearly a key area for the Gambling Commission who continue to work to ensure children are not exposed to illegal gambling.

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Licensing Hours increased to mark VE Day 2020

The Home Secretary has announced that licensing hours across England & Wales are to be extended to mark the 75th anniversary of VE day subject to a consultation exercise.

The proposals would mean that licensed premises which are able to trade until 11pm (on 8 May and 9 May 2020 respectively) will be able to trade until 1am the following morning.

This coincides with the government’s decision to move the early May Bank Holiday from 4 May 2010 to Friday 8 May 2020 to mark the 75th anniversary of VE day.

VE day marks a remembrance of the contributions of British, Commonwealth and Allied Armed Forces personnel, as well as all those citizens who contributed to the war effort and safeguarded the home front.

In the past, the government has extended licensing hours for such occasions such as the Royal Wedding (2018); the Queen’s 90th birthday (2016), the World Cup (2014); the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee (2012) and the Royal Wedding (2011).

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Regulatory Seminar 2019

Many thanks to those attendees that took part in the regulatory seminar on 25 September 2019, we hope you had an enjoyable time.

Any of our clients who could not make the event and would like to receive the slides for the topics, then please do contact us. For information, the topics covered were as followed:

  • Fire Safety – Post Grenfell
  • Entertainment/Alcohol Licensing – What’s new?
  • Coroners inquests – what’s in it for me?
  • Sentencing and what does it really mean?
  • Regulatory smorgasbord – topical round up of cases, developments and issues to watch out for
  • Insurers – what can they make you and what can they not make you do?!

Whether or not you could make it on 25 September 2019, anyone who has a question  on particular topics we discussed or that are of interest in the regulatory field please let us know.  We are hoping to do a webinar in the near future to deal with some other topical issues. So please get in touch with your problems, thoughts and suggestions that you may have

We hope you can join us at the next seminar/conference and we look forward to hearing from you in respect of the suggestions for further events.