Issue - meetings

The Committee received a report from the Environmental Health Manager, advising that Cambridge City Council, as the Licensing Authority, is required to discharge its responsibilities under the Gambling Act 2005 with a view to promoting the three licensing objectives, namely;

          i.   Preventing Gambling from being a source of crime or disorder, being associated with crime or disorder or being used to support crime;

         ii.   Ensuring that gambling is conducted in a fair and open way; and

       iii.   Protecting children and other vulnerable persons from being harmed or exploited by gambling.

The Gambling Act 2005 was designed to be a light touch piece of legislation covering a number of “licensable activities”. Such activities are defined within the Act. All councils are required to re-write their policies and have them in place for January 2016.

The Committee asked the following questions in response to the report:

     i.        Expressed surprise at the low response rates to the consultation and questioned how much weight should be given to a single consultees comments.

    ii.        Suggested that a No Casino’s policy would be welcomed.

   iii.        Questioned how many premises in Cambridge had Licences for licensable gambling activities.

In response to the Committee’s questions, the Environmental Health Manager, confirmed the following:

     i.        The gambling related criteria detailed on page eleven of the report had been taken from statutory guidance. Whilst, there was no specific criterion regarding addiction, this would be included in the mental health criteria.

    ii.        Stated that the low consultation response rate from the extensive consultee list was to be expected as this was not an area that caused concerns in Cambridge.

   iii.        Confirmed that an on-line gambling establishment with a Cambridge address would need a Licence.

  iv.        Confirmed that Cambridge currently had: 18 Bookmakers, 2 Gaming Centres and 1 Family Entertainment Centre.

Councillor Benstead stated that a ‘No Casinos’ policy could not be made at this Committee and would require extensive consultation. This would be a decision for the future. He welcomed the opportunity to develop detailed Local Area Profiles as this would provide the evidence the Committee needed to reject unsuitable applications. The Committee currently lacked evidence regarding young or vulnerable members of the community. 

Resolved unanimously to recommend to Council to:

          i.    To endorse the post-consultation draft Statement of Gambling Principles shown in Appendix A and recommend to full Council that the policy is approved for publication on 21 December 2015 for it to come in to effect on 18 January 2016.