The Government has tabled an amendment to the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill which proposes to introduce Gambling Impact Assessments by inserting two new sections to the Gambling Act 2005 (‘the Act’), namely sections 153A and 165A.
If the amendment is passed and these sections are inserted into the Act, this will allow a licensing authority to publish a ‘Gambling Impact Assessment’ (GIA) where the authority considers the grant of any ‘relevant licence’ in respect of premises in one or more parts of their area is not likely to be reasonably consistent with one or more of the licensing objectives because:
- The cumulative impact of relevant licences in respect of premises in the affected part(s) or
- Other reasons which relate to that licensing objective, or those licensing objectives, and to the affected part(s).
A ‘relevant licence’ has been defined as being a bingo premises licence, adult gaming centre premises licence, family entertainment centre premises licence or a betting premises licence.
As part of any published assessment, the authority must set out evidence for how they have come to the opinion that the grant of any ‘relevant licence’ would not be reasonably consistent with the objectives set out above.
Authorities will also be required to review any published GIA from time to time, and should the authority take the view that the assessment should be revised or withdrawn, they must publish any revision.
Where an application is submitted for a relevant licence and a GIA has been published and the authority has included in its Statement of Gambling Principles that there will be a presumption to refuse applications for relevant licences. Then it will be deemed lawful for the authority to refuse such application solely on the ground that it falls within the scope of the GIA, thus undermining the current obligation to ‘aim to permit’ under section 153 of the Act.
The amendment would allow licensing authorities to limit premises licence numbers. The proposal includes provision to allow licensing authorities to frame the GIA by reference to the grant of relevant licences in excess of a number specified in the assessment. An application would fall within the scope of the GIA if the grant of such application would result in the number of relevant licences specified in the assessment being exceeded.
That being said, the proposed amendment does state that refusing an application will be unlawful where the applicant asserts in the application that the grant would be reasonably consistent with the licensing objectives or objectives set out in the GIA and provides evidence that the grant would be reasonably consistent with the objectives.
The amendment to the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill is set to be debated in the House of Lords on 13 April 2026.
Full details of the tabled amendment can be found here.
If you would like further information regarding Gambling licensing please contact Partner, Nick Arron on: 0115 9538500.
