Agenda item

Councillor Sturt declared an interest for the record as he was a Personal Licence Holder and the Designated Premises Supervisor for the Half Moon Public House in Windlesham.

Under the Gambling Act 2005, the Council is required to prepare and publish a Statement of Gambling Policy, setting out the general approach of the licensing authority when making decisions in relation to gambling, every three years.  Surrey Heath’s Statement had to be reviewed and re-published by 5 October 2016.

The current Statement had been reviewed and updated to reflect the contents of the latest Gambling Commission guidance and would be subject to a statutory twelve week consultation period. Consultation would take place with a range of groups including: the local police force, licence holders, the business community and local residents.  The draft Statement would then be taken to Full Council for approval.

The Committee was informed that currently there were 9 licenced betting shops operating in the Borough, 52 permits and notifications had been issued for gaming machines and licences had been issued for 60 lotteries.  Responsibility for administering the regime was split between the Council, which held responsibility for authorising Premises licences, and the Gambling Commission, who had responsibility for issuing Operating and Personal Licences.

Arising from Members’ questions and comments the following points were noted:

·         Licensed premises automatically received a licence to have up to two gaming machines on the premises.  A separate licence had to be applied for if  additional gaming machines were wanted.

·         A training session focused on the Gambling Act and the Council’s responsibilities would be arranged for members of the Committee.

·         A list of betting shops in the Borough would be circulated.

·         Although raffles and tombolas were covered by the Gambling Act if they were incidental to an event then a licence was not required.  Works raffles were exempt from the Act if the prize was below a certain limit.

·         Betting shops were required to refuse entry to those less than 18 years of age.

·         Private members clubs had to restrict the playing of gaming machines to those who were over 18 years old.

·         It was questioned whether the Non Domestic Rates List could be used for other purposes and it was agreed that this would be clarified.

·         The Citizens’ Advice Bureau would be added to the list of consultees

·         It was confirmed that Geraldine Sharman was the Council’s Information Governance Manager.

·         Details of the Hampton Principles governing enforcement principles would be circulated.

RESOLVED that the draft Statement of Gambling Principles 2016-2019, set out at Annex A of the report, be approved for public consultation.