The Gambling Act 2005

Book excerpt: High street betting shops and casinos alike are currently allowed a maximum of four B2 (FOBT) gaming machines, which allow stakes up to £100 and a £500 prize. Casinos, should instead be permitted to operate up to twenty B2-type gaming machines. Limiting the number of B2 machines in betting shops has encouraged them to cluster in some high streets in order to satisfy customer demand. Local Authorities should have the power to permit more than the four B2 machines per shop if they believe it will help with clustering. The Committee also recommends that any local authority be able to make the decision as to whether or not they want a casino. As a step towards this, existing 1968 Act Casino licences should be made portable, allowing operators to relocate to any local authority provided that they continue to be constrained by the need to obtain local authority approval, a premises licence and planning permission. The failure to set remote gambling taxation at a level at which online operators could remain within the UK has led to almost every online gambling operator moving offshore whilst most are still able to advertise and operate into the UK. The Committee further recommends the Gambling Commission should introduce a new licence fee structure which reduces the current anomaly where small, independent bookmakers pay much higher fees per shop than large chains. Particularly given the absence of a significant UK-regulated online sector or any Regional Casinos, the Gambling Commission remains an overly expensive, bureaucratic regulator.