Issue - meetings

The Committee received a report which set out the draft revised Statement of Gambling Policy. The report was introduced by the Lead Licensing Officer, Daliah Barrett. The Committee was advised that there was a requirement to review the Council’s Statement of Gambling Policy every three years. The current policy was adopted in January 2016 and was therefore due for review. The report sought comments from the Committee on the draft policy that was currently under public consultation. The following arose in discussion of the report:

1. In response to a question around ASB and whether the Council could rescind a licence, officers advised that there was a formal process in place to review a licence if there was evidence that a premises was not upholding the objectives of the Gambling Act 2005. The Lead Licencing Officer advised that the operators tended to be very proactive in reporting ASB, as it was detrimental to their business. The Committee was advised that there was a very active Bet Watch scheme in place in Tottenham.
2. The Committee enquired whether there was any way of asking for voluntary contributions from the betting operators to tackle ASB. In response, officers advised that there was no provision in the Act to allow the authority to ask for voluntary contributions. The betting industry did make voluntary contributions to GamCare schemes.
3. In response to a question, the Committee was advised that the Gambling Act did not allow the authority to take demand into consideration nor the number of existing premises in a particular location. Unlike the Licensing Act 2003, the Gambling Act 2005 did not allow ASB as a material consideration.
4. In response to a question about the number of licensing reviews undertaken, officers advised that, so far, they had never had to get to the stage of reviewing a licence. Instead, all problems had been resolved through mediation between officers and individual premises. In response to a follow up question, officers advised that there had been cases in other local authorities where licences had been revoked for issues such as drug dealing taking place on the premises.
5. In response to a question around problem gamblers, the Committee were advised that the industry used a self-exclusion process.
6. The Committee sought information around the impact of betting shops on homelessness. The Lead Licensing Officer agreed to raise the issue with the Association of Betting Shops and get back to OSC. (Action Daliah Barrett).
7. Officers agreed to circulate a previous Scrutiny Review undertaken around the clustering of Betting Shops to the Committee. (Action Rob Mack).

RESOLVED

The Committee reviewed the draft Statement of Gambling Policy and provided comments on the policy for recommendation onto the Cabinet and then Full Council for adoption.