Gambling - Code of practice for gaming machines in clubs and premises with an alcohol licence

A (possibly timely) reminder for licensed premises which have provision of facilities for gaming machine gambling in accordance with club gaming, club machine and alcohol licensed premises permits.

There is Gambling Commission Guidance in place with which premises should comply which deals with the siting (and possible co-location with ATMs) of such machines, responsibility for compliance with such guidance and best practice to prevent under aged usage.

On positioning, it states, as a mandatory requirement, that:

• All gaming machines situated on the premises must be located in a place within the premises so that their use can be supervised, either by staff whose duties include such supervision (including bar or floor staff) or by other means.
• Permit holders must have in place arrangements for such supervision.
• All gaming machines situated on the premises shall be located in a place that requires a customer who wishes to use any ATM made available on the premises to cease gambling at the gaming machines in order to do so (i.e. not adjacent or overly proximate). ‘ATM’ means a machine located on the premises, which enables a person using it to obtain cash by use of a credit or debit card.

On access to gambling by under aged persons, it gives the following best practice advice:

• Permit holders should put into effect procedures intended to prevent underage gambling. This should include procedures for:
  • checking the age of those who appear underage
  • refusing entry to anyone unable to produce an acceptable form of identification. 2
• Permit holders should take all reasonable steps to ensure that all relevant employees understand their responsibilities for preventing underage gambling.
• Permit holders should only accept identification which:
  • contains a photograph from which the individual can be identified
  • states the individual’s date of birth
  • is valid  
  • is legible and has no visible signs of tampering or reproduction.
• The Commission considers acceptable forms of identification to include: any identification carrying the PASS logo (for example Citizencard or Validate); a driving licence (including provisional licence) with photocard; or a passport.

The current Guidance is here: 'Code of practice for gaming machines in clubs and premises with an alcohol licence'