Draft Statement of Gambling Principles 2025-2028
Consultation has concluded
This consultation closed on 29 May 2024 , an update will be available shortly which will summarise the findings and next steps.
Introduction
London Borough of Hounslow Council has a responsibility to protect vulnerable residents from the harm that can come from gambling, such as financial difficulties, poor mental health, crime and disorder and breakdown of personal relationships. Our full list of responsibilities is listed below, but also include activities such as regulating gambling activities and licensing businesses.
To do this, we have a set of principles which we use when licensing gambling venues across the borough – this helps us to balance supporting local businesses and protecting local people.
This document is called: our Statement of Gambling Principles.
The consultation will run for 8 weeks from 3rd April 2024 until 29th May 2024. We welcome your comments. We will look to publish the results of the consultation in July when the responses have been reviewed.
Why are we consulting?
We review the Statement of Gambling Principles and consult on them every three years. This review focuses on assessing the effectiveness in achieving its objectives of preventing harm, preventing crime, and promoting fair and transparent gambling.
To ensure that the policy remains up-to-date and relevant to the borough's characteristics, we have developed a revised draft statement. We are now consulting with residents of the borough and premises licence holders to obtain their views on the changes. We’ve published information specifically for businesses who offer gambling services and would encourage anyone involved in a business of this nature to read this. Changes to the statement and information for businesses are listed in the table below.
We now invite all interested parties to participate in the consultation exercise and share their thoughts, insights, and data in response.
What are our responsibilities:
Under the Gambling Act 2005, our responsibilities include:
- premises licences including provisional statements, variations, and reviews for premises including casinos, bingo, betting, adult gaming centres and family entertainment centres
- permits for gambling activities such as gaming machines, prize gaming and unlicensed family entertainment centres
- temporary use notices
- occasional use notices
- registrations such as small society lotteries
Our principles set out how the council will handle applications made in accordance with the Act and how it expects applicants to operate with the following licensing objectives:
- Preventing gambling from being a source of crime or disorder, being associated with crime or disorder, or being used to support crime.
- Ensuring that gambling is conducted in a fair and open way; and
- Protecting children and other vulnerable persons from being harmed or exploited by gambling.
Our principles should also provide assurance to the public and support vulnerable residents whilst helping gambling businesses to develop successfully.
The principles play a vital role in supporting the council's strategic priorities, including;
Helping businesses launch and grow
- Making Hounslow a safer borough and;
- Increasing engagement with residents and communities to alleviate the impact of a cost-of-living crisis.
What are we proposing to change?
Section | Summary of Changes Made |
Contents – Page 3 | New contents page added to help navigation. |
Hounslow’s Geographical Area – Page 5 | New statistics and data referenced. |
Statement – Page 8 | Reference to government’s White Paper (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/high-stakes-gambling-reform-for-the-digital-age) consultation around introduction of cumulative impact assessments. |
Hounslow Corporate Plan – Page 9 | Section amended to reference current corporate plan for 2022 – 2026 ‘Ambitious for Hounslow’. https://www.hounslow.gov.uk/downloads/download/42/corporate_plan_2022_-2026 |
Protecting Children and Other Vulnerable Persons from Being Harmed or Exploited by Gambling – Page 23 | Section is now set apart and includes more details around the meaning of gambling harm, which is vulnerable, and issues manifesting as a result of gambling harm. |
Appendix Four: Local Risk Assessment Expectations – Page 51 | New Section which adds detail on basis for Local Area Risk Assessment and expectations on how to approach carrying out the assessment. |
When should a Local Area Risk Assessment (LARA) be produced – Page 52 | New section which clarifies the circumstances in which a LARA should be produced. |
Premises located within ‘Hotspots’ – Page 56 | New section which takes specific risks identified within the Local Area Plan and introduced measures for consideration where a premises is located in a ‘hotspot’ area. |
Appendix Five: Guidance on Reviews – Page 59 | New section which clarifies when the Authority may, or will not, consider a license review. |
Appendix Six: Signposting for Operators – Page 61 | New section which sets out expectations of operators around customer interactions and record keeping. Section also signposts to a number of support agencies who are able to help with gambling addiction and wider, related issues such as other addictions, debt and homelessness. |
Appendix Seven: Delegation of Functions – Page 67 | New section which sets out the scheme of delegation for licensing matters. |
Paper copies of all consultations and surveys are available. To request one, please email consult@hounslow.gov.uk or call 020 8583 2000.
