Agenda item

The Council is required to review its Gambling Statement of Principles every 3 years. This report presents the draft Gambling Statement of Principles 2023-2026 for comment and the feedback from the required consultation.

Purpose of report

The Council was required to review its Gambling Statement of Principles every 3 years. This report presented the draft Gambling Statement of Principles 2023-2026 for comment alongside the feedback from the required consultation.

Decision

That Cabinet:

1. Notes the proposed updates to the Gambling Statement of Principles and consultation feedback. 

2. Recommends, with the amended text at Appendix One of the report, that the revised South Kesteven District Council Gambling Statement of Principles 2023-2026 is suitable to be presented to Full Council for adoption.

Alternative options considered and rejected

Failure to undertake a review of the Statement would have meant that this aspect of the Licensing Authority’s operation was not compliant with legislative requirements.  

Reason for decision

The development of the revised Statement had been overseen by the Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee at their meeting on 11 October, with the involvement of the Licensing Committee.  Public consultation had demonstrated support for the revised document. This decision would ensure that that the Council met its obligations under Section 349 of the Gambling Act to review the Statement every 3 years.

The Council issued a range of permits to authorise gambling facilities across the district. The current Statement of Principles dated from 2020; the Gambling Act required local authorities to prepare an updated Statement of Principles every three years.

The Statement set out the general approach that the Council would take with regard to its regulatory role within the Gambling Act. This included adhering to the three objectives of the Gambling Act, which were:

1. preventing gambling from being a source of crime or disorder, being associated with crime or disorder, or being used to support crime
2. ensuring that gambling is conducted in a fair and open way
3. protecting children and other vulnerable persons from being harmed or exploited by gambling

Updates had been made to the Statement in order to reflect the current local profile and guidance whilst ensuring it was fit for purpose. The draft Statement, with revisions was included as Appendix One to the report. Appendix Two to the report outlined the changes to the Statement in more detail.

A statutory consultation took place from August 2022 and garnered thirteen responses. The feedback from this consultation was included at Appendix Four.

The agreed amendment to the draft statement was as follows:

‘Social responsibility code provisions - Provisions describing arrangements which should be made by persons providing facilities for gambling for the purpose of - 

(a) ensuring that gambling is conducted in a fair and open way. 

(b) protecting children and other vulnerable persons form being harmed or exploited by gambling; and;

(c) making assistance available to persons who are or may be affected by problems related to gambling.

Compliance with these is a condition of operator licences; therefore, any breach of them by a licensed operator may lead the Commission to review the operator’s licence with a view to suspension, revocation or the imposition of a financial penalty and would also expose the operator to the risk of prosecution.’

Members noted that it was important that public and businesses within the district were aware of the Gambling Statement of Principles, particularly since gambling was an addiction that had the ability to affect people from all backgrounds in the community.