It has taken some time but we are on the verge of seeing the Gambling Act reforms for land based casinos finally about to become effective. It has been a long wait since the White Paper suggested reforms have come to practical effect.
Representing Casinos operators we have been trying to ready ourselves to make the necessary applications for them to vary their 1968 converted casino premises licences which will allow them to gain the advantage in the increased machine offer.
A reminder of what the new permissions are, and the space criteria needed to increase the number of machines can be found in the Gambling Commission legislative changes guidance and the link below will take you to it:
It hasn’t been the simplest of tasks getting from the proposed changes back in 2023 to now. Frustratingly, the run up to the introduction of the changes has been just as slow and the lack of clear and timely guidance as to the procedure seems to replicate all of the changes in legislation I have been involved in whilst I have been a licensing lawyer.
We now move into the practicalities of the process of application. The Statutory Instruments below come into effect on 22nd July 2025 which means we are about to submit a raft of applications.
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2025/503/made
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2009/1970/contents/made
We have had plans prepared in readiness for the applications we are about to lodge. Of course they need public notices on the premises and in the newspaper. This is a pre-consulted change to the primary legislation which could have been undertaken without the need for a variation application to premises licences… but we are where we are. The consultation has concluded and the DCMS have formed the view that these changes can happen in such a regulated and well run environment. We are sure that Responsible Authorities will check the layout plans and be content that these applications can be permitted without additional interaction. The concern is if members of the public misunderstand that these changes have already been accepted by Government ,if space permits, and there would be no potential risk to the licensing objectives being compromised. It would be very frustrating if these changes are held up due to public representations on an individual basis.
What is interesting is the number of “parked” premises licenses this will lead to across the casino sector. With the potential increase to a maximum of 80 machines per casino there will not be the need for some of the multiple premises licensed sites we currently see. It is hope that these licences will be viable to use in the future and of course operators will want to retain them for this potential future use. To that effect the licences will be mothballed for the time being until we see future changes to the regulatory framework for casinos.
It will be a busy week for us ensuring these applications are timely lodged with the Licensing Authorities.