Gambling Act 2005 - application to vary a premises licence

Variation

The holder of a premises licence may apply to the licensing authority to vary the licence by:

A licence may not be varied to change the premises to which it relates.

Premises licence

Where an individual or company proposes to offer gambling for which an operating licence is required, and which is premises based, that individual or company will also need to apply for a premises licence.

Premises licences are issued by the licensing authority with responsibility for the area in which the premises are situated.

Operating licence

Individuals and companies who intend to provide facilities for certain types of gambling must obtain an operating licence from the Gambling Commission. These licences cover the principal commercial forms of gambling operation.

Gambling activities

Premises licences can authorise the provision of facilities on:

Meaning of premises

Premises is defined as including 'any place'. This prevents more than one premises licence applying to any place. A single building could be subject to more than one premises licence, provided they are for different parts of the building and these parts can be reasonably regarded as being different premises.

The Gambling Act permits premises licences to be granted for passenger vessels. Separate application forms need to be used - see application forms section below.

A vessel is anything (other than a sea plane or amphibious vehicle), designed or adapted for use on water, a hovercraft, anything, or part of any place, situated on or in water.

Vehicles (trains, road vehicles, aircraft, sea planes and amphibious vehicles, other than a hovercraft) may not be the subject of a premises licence and therefore all forms of commercial betting and gaming are unlawful in a vehicle in Great Britain.

Premises licence type

Casino premises (new)

It is not currently possible to make an application for a new casino licence in the North Devon Council area. Specific councils only have the permission to issue such licences. If you need any further information regarding casinos, please contact the licensing team - contact details listed towards the bottom of this web page.

Bingo

Bingo licensed premises may offer both cash and prize bingo and may also make available for use up to four category B machines (sub categories B3 and B4); any number of category C machines and any number of category D machines. No person under the age of 18 is permitted to play bingo on the premises and if bingo halls admit under-18s they must have measures in place to prevent their access to any category B and C machines. The admission charges, the charges for playing a game and the rules of the game must be prominently displayed. Any ATM available for use in the premises must be sited so that customers have to stop gambling to use it.

Betting premises (off track)

There are two types of premises which require licensing for betting but we refer here to off-track betting, that is betting that does not take place on a race course and is the traditional 'bookmaker's shop'. These licences have mandatory conditions including one that requires the terms on which a bet may placed to be prominently displayed. No person under the age of 18 is allowed in betting premises and the consumption of alcohol is also prohibited. Neither is music, dancing or other entertainment permitted. If there is an ATM on the premises it must be sited so that customers have to leave any gaming machine in order to use it. Up to four gaming machines of category B (B2, B3 and B4), C and D may be provided.

Adult gaming centres

Adult Gaming Centres (AGCs) are a new category of premises and we could describe them as amusement arcades for adults as no person under the age of 18 is allowed to enter one. An AGC may have up to four category B machines; any number of category C machines and any number of category D machines. The category B machines are restricted to B3 and B4 machines. Consumption of alcohol is prohibited and if there is an ATM on the premises it must be sited so that customers have to stop gambling to use it. AGCs may offer prize gaming which includes prize bingo.

Licensed family entertainment centres

Licensed Family Entertainment Centres are a second new category of premises and are amusement arcades that offer category C and category D machines. Children and young persons are allowed to come in and to play category D machines. There must be a clear separation from the category C machines, which may only be played by people over the age of 18. Over-18 areas must be separated by a barrier with prominently displayed notices stating that under-18s are not allowed in that area and the area must be supervised to ensure that under-18s do not access the area. Consumption of alcohol is prohibited and if there is an ATM on the premises it must be sited so that customers have to stop gambling to use it. Licensed FECs are also able to offer prize gaming, which includes prize bingo.

Please note that this information is provided purely for guidance and should not be treated as a definitive statement of law.

Categories of gaming machine

The Gambling Act has defined four classes of gaming machine with further subdivisions in category B. Different types of premises are allowed different numbers and types of gaming machine as follows:

*only available in regional casinos

The application process

An application to vary a premises licence may only be made by the existing licence holder (s) (which includes companies or partnerships):

The exception to this is a holder of a premises licence allowing a track to be used for betting, as these applicants are not required to hold an operating licence if they are merely providing space for other people to provide betting (and those other people hold valid betting operating licences). However, if a track owner is also acting as a betting operator or running pool betting he will have to have the relevant type of operating licence.

The application must be made using the prescribed form (see application forms section below) and must be accompanied by:

The applicant is required to publish notice of their application and to notify responsible authorities and other persons about the application. This will allow representations to be made.

Notice must be given in three ways:

Advert

Format to be used by applicants when advertising details of application in local press:

GA05/PL/Advert

Notice

Prescribed forms to be used to notify responsible authorities:

GA05/PL/Notice/A

Responsible authorities and interested parties

Responsible authorities are public bodies that must be notified of applications and that are entitled to make representations in relation to applications for, and in relation to, premises licences. All representations made by responsible authorities are likely to be relevant representations if they relate to the  three core objectives.

The responsible authorities are listed in Appendix A of the council's statement of principles (pdf 437 kB)

An interested party is a person who:

Interested parties can be people who are democratically elected such as councillors and MPs. Where appropriate, this will include county, parish and town councillors.

Other than these persons, authorities should require written evidence that a person 'represents' someone who either lives sufficiently close to the premises to be likely to be affected by the authorised activities and/or business interests that might be affected by the authorised activities. A letter from one of these persons requesting the representation is sufficient.

Representations

Responsible authorities and interested parties have 28 consecutive days from the date of application to make representations to the licensing authority.

The licensing authority will determine the relevance of the representation. To be relevant, they should usually relate to the licensing objectives. Vexatious or frivolous representations will not be considered.

Hearings

A hearing will not be held if all parties have come to an agreement (mediation) or if the authority feels the representation is vexatious or frivolous.

Otherwise a hearing will be held to determine the outcome of the application.

Determination

On considering an application to vary a premises licence (whether at a hearing or not), a licensing authority shall:

Grant

On grant of the application, the licensing authority shall as soon as is reasonably practical give notice to:

Issue the premises licence to the applicant, together with a summary of the terms and conditions of the licence.

Reject

On rejection of the application, the licensing authority shall as soon as is reasonably practical give notice to:

A notice will also be given to the above detailing the reasons for rejection.

Appeal

An applicant appealing against the rejection or a responsible authority/interested party appealing against the grant of a premises licence has 21 days from receipt of the notice of decision from the licensing authority in which to make an appeal.

The appeal should be lodged with the magistrates court that covers the area in which the premises are situated.

Conditions

The council's statement of principles (pdf 437 kB) under the conditions section provides further information.

Fees

Register

Current applications for the variation of a premises licence and those previously completed can be viewed on the Premises Licence public register, listed together with other 'events' held against a given premises.

Further information