According to a Sept. 4 report from SCCG Management, Barking and Dagenham Council planned to revise its gambling policy to add extra protections for high-deprivation areas, including Barking town centre and Heathway in Dagenham. The proposed changes were a response to residents’ concerns about betting-shop density and calls to freeze new licences or shut existing venues. The Betting and Gaming Council pushed back, arguing that the premises support jobs and tax revenue. The revised policy was due to be discussed on Sept. 3.
As reported in August, ministers were also moving to scrap the Gambling Act 2005’s “aim to permit” rule, which requires councils to approve gambling licences when minimum criteria are met. That reform is intended to give local authorities more room to resist unwanted shops, and the Gambling Commission has separately said that councils may use cumulative impact assessments to judge whether the number or density of gambling premises undermines licensing objectives.
BBC research found that about half of the UK’s adult gaming centres are in the country’s most disadvantaged neighbourhoods, with 664 of about 1,400 premises in the top 20% of deprived areas. Anna Hargrave, chief executive of Gamble Aware, said that people in disadvantaged communities were twice as likely to experience gambling harm.
BACTA offered a different view, saying operators do not target deprived areas and instead take on long-term empty units and invest in high streets that need regeneration. The Gambling Commission’s guidance says licensees must assess the local risks posed by gambling facilities at each premises and have policies, procedures and controls to mitigate them. It also says those assessments should take account of the licensing authority’s policy statement and be shared with councils when operators seek a new licence or variation, or when asked.
