Decision details

To seek approval for the Council’s consultation response in relation to the Government Consultation on proposals for changes to Gaming Machines and social responsibility measures.

The Gambling Act 2005 was established in October 2005 and came into force in stages up to 1 September 2007. The Act established the Gambling Commission as the Independent regulator of operators and made provision for Local Authorities to regulate gambling premises.  The Act has now been in force for 10 years and in that time, there have been significant changes to the gambling market and the understanding of harm across the gambling landscape has become better understood.

The Government is consulting on proposed changes in order to look across the industry and determine what changes, if any, are needed to strike the right balance between socially responsible growth and the protection of consumers and the communities they live in,  At its meeting of 28 November 2017, the Licensing and Regulatory Affairs Committee recommended a draft response to the consultation to the Executive for approval, this is attached as Appendix A to this report.

RESOLVED that the Executive:

(a)  agrees the draft response to the consultation as set out in Appendix A to the report; and

(b)  subject to the inclusion of the comments made by the Licensing and Regulatory Affairs Committee, as per item 7 of the agenda, approves the response as the Council’s formal response to the Government consultation.