Gambling act - licensing premises

All gambling is governed by the Gambling Act 2005, which came fully into force on 1 September 2007 and we are now responsible for the licensing of all premises under the Act.  Our approach to this area of work can be found in our Gambling Policy Statement

Rochdale Borough Council's Gambling Act Policy Statement (281kb pdf file)

The Gambling Commission

The Gambling Act has introduced a unified regulator for gambling in Great Britain, the Gambling Commission, and a new licensing regime for commercial gambling. This is conducted by the Commission or by licensing authorities, depending on the matter to be licensed.

All responsibility for granting gambling and betting permissions has been removed from licensing justices.

The commission is now responsible for granting operating and personal licences for commercial gambling operators and personnel working in the industry. It also regulates certain lottery managers and promoters. The Act sets out different types of operating licences that cover the full range of gambling activities in Great Britain.

Licensing authorities

As a licensing authority we have powers to licence gambling premises within the Rochdale area, as well as undertaking functions in relation to low stake gaming machines and clubs and miners’ welfare institutes. The Act also provides a new system of temporary use notices. These will authorise premises that are not licensed generally for gambling purposes to be used for certain types of gambling, for limited periods.

Fees

The Licensing Committee resolved to review the fees prior to April 2008, after receiving a report detailing the income and expenditure budgets for this work, so that the fees could be amended, if necessary, to ensure full cost recovery only, and accepted that, in the event that income was identified as being excessive at an early stage, then a report would be presented at the earliest opportunity to address this issue.

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