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Betting

Most betting is licensed, with licences administered by the Gambling Commission, plus local authorities

The Gambling Act 2005 licenses betting shops, course bookmakers, on course bookmakers, race tracks and remote betting, for instance via the internet or telephone.

Pool betting and betting intermediaries are also licensed although spread betting is regulated by the Financial Services Authority and is not covered by the Gambling Act 2005.

Betting operators must first apply for an operating licence and where necessary personal licences from the Gambling Commission.

With particular regard to online operations, all remote betting operators, regardless of where they are based, now require an operating licence from the Gambling Commission to enable them to transact with British customers and to advertise in Great Britain.

For premises based betting operations (non-remote), a further application for a betting premises licence is then necessary to the local authority where the premises are located.

For help and advice on the various laws surrounding betting and gambling in general, drop Nick Arron a line. Nick is a specialist licensing solicitor and head of the gambling team here at Poppleston Allen.

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