Local councils call for more powers to challenge betting shops and advertising

Local Councils have formed a coalition calling for the government to curb rules on the exposure of betting estates and gambling venues within local communities.

Brent Council revealed that heading up a group of 38 other local governments and two mayors, including Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham, calling for reform to laws around the opening of betting shops and slot arcades.

The group has written to Lisa Nandy, DCMS Secretary, calling for six reforms to the 2005 Gambling Act granting councils more power to prevent gaming venues opening up in their areas.

Muhammed Butt, Leader of Brent Council, said: “I am proud that we have joined forces with 38 other councils and combined authorities today, representing over 12 million people up and down the country impacted by outdated legislation on gambling. 

“There’s too much on the line to ignore the harms of betting shops on Britain’s high streets, but our hands are effectively tied by a law no longer fit for purpose.”

Six Local Controls

Regarding high-street betting, the councils are calling for changes to planning applications.Notably, councils want the ability to consider household debt levels when evaluating planning applications for gaming venues and to prevent what it calls ‘the proliferation of gambling dens’ near schools.

Similar demands include a call for reform of the ‘aim to permit’ policy to give local authorities the power to reject licence applications that are seen to threaten community welfare, while another policy would see bingo halls and adult gaming centres classed in the same category as high-street bookmakers.

Advertising, a long-debated and often fiercely debated regulatory topic in the UK, is also a target. The councils want to be able to prohibit gambling advertising and sponsorship in their areas, in a move which would mark a radical departure from the current process whereby laws and requirements on marketing are set in Westminster and enforced by the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC).

The Councils’ finally two proposed measures, meanwhile, are a continuation of topics already addressed in the Gambling Act review – highlighting the ongoing concerns of local councils and other stakeholders even after the review’s conclusion.

The group wants to see a review of spin speed and staking levels on B3 gaming machines, which would build on White Paper restrictions on slots such as the £2 staking limit on online games. 

Lastly, the Councils call for a statutory levy on gambling harm prevention – something that is already in effect in the form of the mandatory national research, education and treatment (RET) levy overseen by the NHS, though the exact details, distribution methods and targets for funding are still being formulated.

Labour must address “‘imbalance of power’

The Councils’ combined calls demonstrates the increasing role local governments are playing in gambling policy and reform in the UK, coming just a week after calls for the London government to curb gambling advertising on transport were re-raised.

Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, had previously stated that he would remove gambling ads from Transport for London (TfL) networks, but four years later has not made good on this promise. Though Khan is also Chair of TfL, he may be restricted in how he could achieve this goal, and should the Councils’ demands be met he could gain this power.

Meanwhile, Brent Council’s announcement came on the same day that several health, social and public policy experts, plus the UKGC, gave evidence before the Health and Social Care Committee of the House of Commons.

At one point during the discussion, the topic of local councils’ clashes with retail betting was raised by Paulette Hamilton, MP for Birmingham Edmonton, and Heather Wardle, Professor of Gambling Research and Policy at the University of Glasgow.

Hamilton remarked: “The area I’m an MP in, it’s terrible. We have 10 shops on one street that deal with gambling of one of one type or another, the planning just seems to be unable to stop them from opening, and even when planning says no, they appeal higher and seem to get what they want, even with all this evidence.”

The evidence Hamilton referred to are studies showing a disproportionate number of betting shops located in low income areas. In its own statement, this was also raised by Brent Council, which cited a Bristol University study which concluded that betting shops are 10 times more likely to be found in deprived towns than affluent areas.

“I do believe it is particularly about giving more powers to local authorities and addressing the systemic power imbalances that exist between the local authorities and the gambling industry,” Professor Wardle told the MPs on Wednesday (2 April).

Wardle added: “It is fundamentally a power imbalance between the local authority and the operator, and the way the legislation is currently framed is not supporting them.”

A counterargument from the industry is often that shops are located in lower income areas due to the affordability of rent, and also due to the more widespread use of cash and popularity of mobile betting in more affluent ones. 

Regardless, it is clear that local stakeholders have a lot of grievances, and this is a PR and possibly CSR matter that the industry will need to address. This may prove a difficult lobbying campaign, however, as the Act is already the subject of changes stemming from its two-and-a-half year review, which concluded in 2023.

The Labour government has committed to seeing out the recommendations of the White Paper, and the findings of the UKGC consultations that have proceeded this. The appetite for further reviews and reform after this may be limited, but lobbyists and local governments clearly feel that far more can be done.