Gambling - The Gambling (Licensing and Advertising) Act 2014 Transitional arrangements for EEA and Whitelist operators published

The Statutory Instrument (2014 No.1641) The Gambling (Licensing and Advertising) Act 2014 (Transitional Provisions) Order 2014 (the SI) has been laid before Parliament and is subject to negative resolution.

This requires that either the Instrument is laid before Parliament in draft, and can be made once 40 days (excluding any time during which Parliament is dissolved or prorogued, or during which both Houses are adjourned for more than four days) have passed unless either House passes a resolution disapproving it, or the Instrument is laid before Parliament after it is made (but before it comes into force), but will be revoked if either House passes a resolution annulling it within 40 days.

The Gambling Commission have issued a press release which states that “transitional arrangements set out in the SI enable operators who are currently able to provide facilities for gambling in Great Britain (because they hold a licence in an EEA or white listed jurisdiction) to continue to do so if their advance application for a Gambling Commission licence or licence variation has not been determined by 1 October 2014.  Operators who meet this requirement must have submitted an advance application with the relevant application fee by midnight (GMT) on 16 September 2014 to be eligible for a continuation licence.  If the application has not been determined by 1 October 2014 the applicant will be issued with a continuation licence that will enable them to continue to operate until completion of the application process.”

It should be noted that Licence applications must be made through the online application service on the Gambling Commission’s website.

The Commission also yesterday updated their Gambling (Licensing and Advertising) Act 2014 Frequently Asked Questions (Sections 4 and 5) which provides further information about transitional arrangements (click here). Additional information can also be found on the Transitional arrangements flowchart.