Agenda item

Ellie Greenwood, Senior Advisor, updated the Board on the outcome from the LGA’s Betting Commission work.  The final meeting of the Betting Commission had taken place in September 2014.  The Commission could not reach agreement on clustering of shops or FOBTs, but had agreed a ‘Framework for Local Partnerships’ in conjunction with the Association of British Bookmakers which aimed to facilitate better working between councils and betting shop firms at local level in order to address issues linked to betting shops.  It was proposed that this should be launched at the annual licencing conference on 15 January 2015.

In addition to the development of the framework, which the Board were invited to endorse, a number of other areas of work were ongoing to help councils improve local gambling regulation within the current legislative framework, including:

·         Provision of £30,000 grant to Westminster City Council to part fund a research study to assess area vulnerability to gambling related harm.

·         Updating the LGA’s Gambling Handbook for councillors and council officers to reflect recent concerns.

·         Lobby government to amend the Gambling Act 2005 to reintroduce the demand test to reduce betting shop clustering, and also to give councils the statutory right to create cumulative impact zones in areas with a high number of betting shops.

·         Lobby for the addition of new Gambling Act objectives relating to the prevention of public nuisance and public health.

·         Develop further player protection measures for fixed odds betting machines, such as bringing maximum stakes into line with maximum stakes for other types of gaming machine (£2 in betting shop premises and £5 in casinos). 

The Chair of the Betting Commission thanked members and officers for their work, and highlighted that the top five betting shop companies had been engaged.  Following the publication of the framework, he hoped that the government could provide a quick response to the issues which had been raised. 

Members agreed that the work had been very worthwhile and it was very positive that the industry were engaged with the process.  The return of the demand test would be welcomed by local authorities, however it would be important to ensure it was an effective and workable tool; the concept of cumulative impact might be useful. Members endorsed the need for more work to develop this position to ensure it was robust and could not be circumvented by the betting industry. Members also suggested there was further work on the terminals and the numbers there could be in each shop.  

Action:

Further work on the demand test to be undertaken.

‘Framework for Local Partnerships’ to be published and circulated at the annual licencing conference in January.

Continued lobbying on amendments and additions to Gambling Act 2005. 

Decision:

Members noted the report and approved the recommendations therein.