Introducing test purchasing and requiring stricter ID checks are among the measures set to be introduced for gambling premises in Adur and Worthing.
A reviewed gambling policy for Adur and Worthing councils was approved at licensing committee meetings of the two councils on November 11 and November 25 respectively.
All the changes are a result of new guidelines announced by the Gambling Commission in May this year, which are scheduled to come into effect by February 2025.
The changes include encouraging the use of Challenge 25 at gambling premises, requiring ID checks for anyone who appears under the age of 25, and allowing the council to do ‘covert’ test purchasing, making sure adult gambling premises are not allowing under 18 year olds.
Credit facilities are to be prohibited in casinos and licensed bingo premises, with ATMs still allowed, although the council can tell the premises where to put them.
This was adopting recommendations from a white paper introduced by the government in 2023 to update the Gambling Act 2005, aiming to tackle online gambling in the UK.
Gambling support charity GamCare submitted a statement following consultation on the new policy, saying they welcomed the council’s going ‘beyond the mandatory and default conditions’ of the Gambling Act 2005.
GamCare also said the councils’ could go further and commit to a ‘public health approach’ to gambling, and that it is ‘vital’ the councils develop a ‘local picture’ to better assess gambling harms.
They said: “This commitment should include training frontline and primary care staff to recognise the signs of gambling harm and develop referral pathways to the National Gambling Helpline or local treatment providers.”
According to the Gambling Act 2005, the councils’ gambling policy must be updated roughly every three years, with the last policy being approved in February 2022.
Worthing West MP Beccy Cooper, submitted a statement to the two councils informing them that the government intended to formally adopt the white paper’s recommendations, as the current Gambling Act 2005 is ‘no longer fit for purpose’.
Dr Cooper said this likely meant the councils’ new policy would have to be reviewed and changed again before the three year limit was up.
An amendment to the Adur District Council policy was passed by their licensing committee requiring the training of premises staff in ‘brief intervention when customers show signs of excessive gambling and addiction’.
The new policy also states that according to a recent Public Health England report on gambling, 0.5 per cent of the population, or roughly 243,000 people, are problem gamblers, with 3.8 per cent, roughly 2.2 million people, being ‘at risk’ of becoming problem gamblers.
It says another report by the Gambling Commission showed 1.7 per cent of 11-16 year olds in England are problem gamblers, with a further 2.2 per cent ‘at risk’.
Final approval for the new policy will need to be given by Adur and Worthing full councils, which will next meet on December 19 and 17 respectively.
