Betting, Gaming and Lotteries

The gambling activities below need to be licensed by the council under the Gambling Act 2005: -

• Gaming defined as playing a game of chance for a prize, including a game that involves both an element of chance and skill, or a game that involves an element of chance that can by eliminated by superlative skill, or a game that is presented as involving an element of chance, but does not include a sport.
• Betting defined as making or accepting a bet on the outcome of a race, competition or other event or process, or the likelihood of anything occurring or not occurring, or whether anything is or is not true.

There are 5 types of licence that authorise those activities: -

• Premise licence needed to provide licensable activity prescribed under the Act in casinos, bingo clubs, adult gaming and family entertainment centres; betting offices and on tracks;
• Permit needed to provide gaming machines and prize gaming in premises for which a premises licence has not been issued;
• Registration needed to hold lotteries by small societies;
• Temporary Use Notice needed to temporarily provide licensable activity in premises not holding a premises licence, by persons holding an operator's licence issued by the Gambling Commission.
• Occasional Use Notice needed to provide betting on a track not holding a premises licence, on not more than 8 occasions per calendar year.

Application forms, the fees payable and advice and guidance can be found via the links below.

It should be noted that the information provided in any application will be held by the council on computerised and manual files. The data may also be disclosed to other departments within the council or other organisations, but only in order to ensure compliance with relevant legislation or to detect and prevent fraud or a crime.

The council's licensing register and Statement of Licensing Policy that sets out how the council will discharge its licensing functions under the Act can be viewed at the council's offices at South Street, Rochford during normal working hours or via the links below.

Tacit consent will apply to these applications. This means that you will be able to act as though your application is granted if you have not heard from the local authority by the end of the target completion period which is 60 days.