Statement of Licensing Policy (Betting, Gaming & 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.
• Participating in a lottery – defined as an arrangement where persons are required to pay in order to participate and in the course of the arrangement one or more prizes are allocated to one or members of a class (of persons) and the prizes are allocated either by a process which relies wholly on chance or a series of processes, the first of which relies wholly on chance.

There are 5 types of licence: -

• 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 and advice and guidance on making applications; the fees payable; when, how and who can make representations; the need to hold hearings and when, how and who can apply for licences to be reviewed if problems are experienced, can be found via the links below.  Where forms or guidance have been produced by the council, they can be found via the individual 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 via the links below or at the council's offices at South Street, Rochford during normal working hours.