Gambling Commission Forecasts New Licensing Law to be Passed

A senior figure at the Gambling Commission expects the government’s bill that would give local authorities greater powers regarding gambling licensing applications will become law.

Ian Angus, Director of Policy at the British regulator, was speaking about the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act. Under the terms of the bill, gambling impact assessments (GIAs) would be introduced, which would give councils the power to prevent gambling venues from opening.

This would include bingo halls, adult gaming centres, family entertainment centre premises and betting shops. GIAs would be carried out if the local authority considers the granting of a license to be inconsistent with licensing objectives.

How this differs from current law

This would mark a shift from the ‘aim to permit’ rule stipulated in the Gambling Act 2005, where the default starting point in a license application would be for the license to be granted; a licensing authority would have to justify its reasons for rejecting a license application if it wished to do so.

The new legislation would essentially flip this over and require the applicant to prove its application is in line with licensing objectives, with the default position being that the local authority can reject the application. Last month, the bill cleared the House of Lords, and is now entering the final stages, where it can be granted Royal Assent before becoming law.

“We expect them to make it into law”

Speaking at the Institute of Licensing Gambling Conference, Angus said:

“Government has of course committed to exploring how to give local authorities the power to carry out gambling impact assessments when looking at licensing decisions in your communities.

“For our part, the Gambling Act review recommended new powers for us to tackle illegal gambling online. Both of these have been moving forward in parliament recently through different legislation and we expect them to make it into law.

“When the bill has completed its passage through parliament and become law, the Commission will work with DCMS [Department for Culture, Media and Sport] to produce guidance for licensing authorities and other stakeholders.”

A trend of regulation

Should the bill become law, this would be the latest step in a trend of tighter restrictions being placed on the gambling industry. The Gambling Act review mentioned by Angus led to the 2023 Gambling White Paper, which was one of the most significant publications in the history of gambling in the UK, setting out more than 60 proposals to update the country’s gambling laws.

Among the terms recommended were affordability checks, in an attempt to protect players spending a certain amount within a certain timeframe, improved identification checks, a statutory levy, and a cap on the maximum stakes on online slots at £5 for older adults and £2 for younger adults.

Operators are also now having to contend with increased online taxation. From April, remote gaming duty, paid on online casino bets, increased from 21% of gross gaming yield (GGY) to 40%. In April 2027, general betting duty, paid on online sports bets, will go up from 15% of GGY to 25%; bets on horseracing will be exempt from this.

This, on top of the proposed legislation Angus was discussing, could have a further impact on retail betting. Last week, William Hill owner Evoke announced it is to close about 270 shops, with several other operators hinting at shop closures as a result of the tax burden.