Summary
The
‘Gambling Act 2005’ received Royal Assent in April
2005. It comes fully into force on 1st September 2007, when all current
gambling law for Great Britain will be replaced by the 2005 provisions.
The Act is in 18 parts with 18 schedules and contains provisions for
comprehensive reform of Britain's gambling laws, with a new regulatory system
to govern the provision of all gambling in Britain, except the National Lottery
and spread betting.
The Act has three main aims:
- Keeping gambling crime free
- Making sure that gambling is fair and
open
- Protecting children and vulnerable adults.
Social
responsibility - protection of the public, especially children and the
vulnerable - remains the top priority.
The Act covers two main
activities: providing facilities for gambling and using premises for
gambling.
Measures include:
- The creation of a single national
regulator, the Gambling Commission, and a new licensing regime to cover the
full spectrum of commercial gambling activities
- The creation of a
Gambling Appeals Tribunal to hear appeals against Commission decisions
- New licensing measures to cover remote technologies for the first time,
such as the internet and mobile phones
- New measures covering casinos,
gaming machines and bingo
- Measures to prevent gambling being used for
criminal activities and to protect children and other vulnerable persons being
exploited.
The Act follows on from the Report by the Independent
Gambling Review Body
‘Gambling Review Report’ (Cm 5206) published in July
2001 and the Government's White Paper
‘A Safe Bet for Success - Modernising Britain's Gambling
Laws’ (Cm 5397) published in March 2002.
'Explanatory Notes', produced to assist in the
understanding of the Act, are also available.
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How does it affect me?
If you work in the
gambling industry, this affects you.
Key changes to gambling regulation
include:
- For the first time, betting shops and
remote gambling sites based in the UK will be governed by a dedicated
regulator, the Gambling Commission
- Local authorities will be able to
impose sanctions on operators, including limiting opening hours and reducing
numbers of gaming machines
- Local people will be able to object to new
gambling licences and seek reviews of existing ones
- New codes governing
advertising come into force, requiring ads to be socially responsible and
banning the use of models under 25 or linking gambling to sexual success
- Adverts from outside Europe that fail to meet the UK's strict regulatory
requirements will be banned
- TV advertisements will be allowed for the
first time, but subject to a voluntary 9pm watershed (with the exemption of
betting ads during sports events)
- The membership requirement on casinos
is lifted
- Bingo clubs will be able to offer rollover jackpots
- Questions on
phone-in quizzes on TV and radio must be harder, to prevent pay-to-enter phone
quizzes that are too easy operating as if they were lotteries and therefore
evading limits on stakes and prizes and the legal requirement for licensed
lotteries to give 20 per cent of profits to charity
- Gambling operators
will be required to display prominently information about responsible gambling
and how to get help for problems. They will also have to work proactively to
prevent underage gambling and contribute to problem gambling treatment and
research, education and public awareness
- Betting cheats, including sportspeople, will face a two year jail
sentence
- UK-based betting operators will be required to pass
information to sports bodies to prevent cheating
- Gambling debts will
become legally enforceable, helping to ensure those who win get paid.
The new laws will be enforced by more than 1500 inspectors.
See more on
gambling policy on
the Department of Culture, Media and Sport website.
See past Department
of Culture, Media and Sport
gambling and racing
consultations.
Find out how to apply for a license on the
Gambling Commission website.
Read
more about the work of the
Gambling Appeals
Tribunal.