Information for betting shop operators

The Gambling Act 2005 (the Act) comes into force on 1 September 2007. To continue operating after this date you need to make advance applications under the new Act:

To the Gambling Commission for a non-remote general betting operating licence;
To the Gambling Commission for any personal licences required by your business; and
To your licensing authority (if your premises is within the Peterborough area, your licensing authority is Peterborough City Council) for a betting premises licence.

If you operate any remote services by virtue of your existing betting permit, you will need to apply to the Gambling Commission for a remote operating licence.

Operating licences

You need to apply to the Gambling Commission by 27 April 2007 for your operators licence to qualify for continuation rights. This means that you will be treated as having an interim operating licence effective from 1 September 2007, even if your application has not be resolved by that date. The Gambling Commission has issued its own guidance on the application procedures. You can find this on the Commission's website: www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk.

Personal licences

The Gambling commission has also issued separate guidance on who in your business requires a personal licence. This is also on the Commissions website as above.

PLEASE NOTE: You should apply for your operating and personal licences to the Gambling Commission as soon as possible. We can not determine your application for a premises licence until you have obtained these.

Premises licences

If you apply for your new premise license between 21 May and 30 July 2007, you will qualify for continuation rights. You can then continue to operate after 1 September 2007 even if your application has not been resolved by this date. You will be required to abide by the relevant mandatory and default premises licence conditions that come into force on 1 September 2007. Details of these conditions will be available from the Gambling Commission.

As an existing operator, if you apply for your premises licence before 1 September 2007 you will in most cases qualify for grandfather rights and be guaranteed a premises licence under the new Act. There are two types of grandfathered premises licence applications fast track and non-fast track.

Fast track grandfathered premises licence application

Must be granted by the licensing authority.
The new mandatory and default conditions will be attached to your premises licence and nothing more.
We will not be able to amend default or attach additional conditions at point of issue (these can be reviewed after your licence has been issued).
The administration procedure is straightforward - no hearing and no need to publish notice or notify responsible authorities.
Representations can not be made.
Due to the reduced amount of admin time, the fee will be lower.

Non-fast track grandfathered premises licence application

We must ultimately grant at least a premises licence with the new mandatory and default conditions attached to it (same as fast track process).
We may grant or refuse your request to exclude or vary a default condition.
When we grant your licence, we may attach other conditions.
All normal requirements of making a premises licence application apply you must publish a notice and inform responsible authorities.
Representations can be made by responsible authorities and interested parties.
There may be a requirement for a hearing.
Your fee will be higher than fast track applications to reflect the increased costs in time and administration incurred by this licensing authority.

PLEASE NOTE: If you do not make an advanced premises licence application and apply after 30 July 2007, we can not guarantee that your premises licence will be issued before 1 September 2007. You will therefore not be licensed after this date and will have to cease operating until your licence has been issued.

Fees, application forms and guidance

Details of fees, application forms and guidance on how to make an application is available on the application information page.

Gaming Machines

Your premise licence gives you an automatic entitlement to provide a certain number of gaming machines. Details of your entitlement is available on the stake, prize and machine allowances page.

Flowchart

The simple application guide for betting shops (38kb) appears in Adobe® Acrobat® (PDF) format. In order to view it you will need to have Acrobat Reader installed. (Those with visual impairments may wish to investigate Access Adobe, which provides tools and information to help make PDF files more accessible.)

Further Information

For further information concerning the Gambling Act 2005, please contact the Licensing Team. The Gambling Commission can be contacted on 0121 230 6666.