Gambling - Responses to gaming machine consultations published

We have previously reported upon the Gambling Commission’s consultation concerning where gaming machines should be played.

The consultation window closed on 22^nd February and the Commission have now published a summary of the responses received.

Many respondents to the consultation reportedly called for a clearer explanation of how compliance with any new provisions would be assessed due to concerns about the potential for subjective judgements creating uncertainty or impeding genuine innovation. To address these concerns, the Commission have included in their summary of responses an explanation of the approach to be adopted by the Commission and revised the guidance issued to licensing authorities.

Having considered the outcome of regulatory casework and emerging business models the Commission have concluded that:

“‘primary gambling activity’ as a concept is open to misunderstanding and is insufficiently robust to enable effective enforcement both legally and operationally.”

The next step

In addition to this consultation the Commission are publishing this month responses to consultations to  ‘Placing digital adverts responsibly’ and ‘High turnover bingo operators and multi-operator self-exclusion requirements’.

The cumulative amendments to the Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP), which will be set out across the three response documents, will come into effect later in 2016. In the summer, the Commission will publish on their website the revised consolidated LCCP, which will incorporate all the changes from the consultations conducted this year. All of the changes will come into force in the autumn.

We shall keep you updated.