Objecting to gambling premises

The Gambling Act 2005

The Gambling Act 2005 regulates gambling in Great Britain. The act has three 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
• protecting children and other vulnerable persons from being harmed or exploited by gambling

The act is overseen and enforced by the Gambling Commission. The commission's website provides detailed information on its role, including the issuing of operating licences for gambling business and publishing licence conditions and codes of practice setting out the requirements that licensees must meet.

Under the act, gambling premises such as betting shops or adult entertainment centres will need a premises licence, issued by the local authority.

The Gambling Act and demand for gambling premises

Before the 2005 act came into force, the issuing of premises licences was subject to a “demand test”. A Gambling Review report of July 2001 claimed that the test restricted new trade and that demand was best assessed by potential operators on commercial grounds alone.

Section 153 of the 2005 act removed the demand test. It states that a licensing authority “shall aim to permit" the use of premises for gambling, providing the authority thinks this is:

• in accordance with any relevant code or guidance issued by the Gambling Commission
• "reasonably consistent" with the licensing objectives
• in accordance with the authority’s statement of licensing policy, issued under section 349 of the act

In its guidance to local authorities, the Gambling Commission makes clear that each licence application should be "considered on its merits without regard to demand”, that a licensing authority’s statement of policy should reflect the “aim to permit”, and “should not comment on whether there is demand for gambling premises”.

Objecting to premises licence applications

When dealing with a premises licence application, local authorities must consider objections ("representations") from responsible authorities (for example, the chief constable for the area in which the premises is situated, or the fire and rescue authority for the same area) and interested parties (for example, local residents, businesses and Members of Parliament).

The Gambling Commission's guidance states that the only representations that are likely to be relevant are those that relate to the licensing objectives, or that raise issues under a licensing policy statement or the commission’s guidance or codes of practice.

The commission's guidance also points out that moral objections to gambling are not a valid reason to reject applications for premises licences. An authority’s decision cannot be based on dislike of gambling, or a general notion that it is undesirable to allow gambling premises in an area.

Detailed information on premises licence applications (and reviews) is available in the commission's guidance.

Concerns about the clustering of gambling premises

The abolition of the demand test for granting licences to open new gambling premises resulted in concerns about the concentration of betting shops in certain areas.

In a July 2020 report (PDF), the House of Lords Committee on the Social and Economic Impact of the Gambling Industry criticised the “clustering” of betting shops. It found that “the liberalisation of the regulation of gambling has led to an increased presence of gambling services on the high street”. The committee recommended that the act “should be amended to give licensing committees deciding on the licensing of premises for gambling the same powers [on cumulative impact] as they already have when deciding on the licensing of premises for the sale of alcohol”.

Information on alcohol licensing and cumulative impact assessments under the Licensing Act 2003 is available in chapter 14 of Home Office guidance (PDF) on the act.

A gambling white paper was published in April 2023. This included a commitment to “align the regimes for alcohol and gambling licensing by introducing cumulative impact assessments”. The primary legislation that this needed was not introduced before the 2024 general election.

Concerns remain about the concentration of betting shops and adult gaming centres on high streets. Brent Council, for example, has been campaigning (PDF) for local authorities to be given the power to reject premise license applications that threaten a “community’s welfare and safety”.

In a written parliamentary response of 19 November 2025, the government said that it had no plans to review the Gambling Act's “aim to permit” provision. However, it would introduce gambling impact assessments when parliamentary time allowed.

Gambling impact assessments to be introduced

Section 87 of the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026 will add new sections 153A and 165A to the Gambling Act to introduce gambling impact assessments (GIAs). These will enable licensing authorities to limit the granting of further premises licences on cumulative impact grounds.

When the bill was being considered in the House of Lords, Baroness Taylor of Stevenage, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Housing, Communities and Local Government, explained that a GIA could “set out that granting a licence for gambling premises in specific areas is not likely to be reasonably consistent with the licensing objectives”. However, applications for premises licences would still have to be considered on a case by case basis:

[GIAs] must be based on evidence showing that premises in a specific area risk undermining the licensing objectives; for example, by causing harm to children or other vulnerable people. This evidence must be published in the assessment.

We anticipate that gambling impact assessments will apply predominantly in areas where licensing authorities want to limit the granting of further gambling premises licences on cumulative impact grounds. However, it will also be possible to prevent the granting of a single licence in a specific area if the licensing authority believes there is evidence to show that this would not be likely to be consistent with the licensing objectives. This will help licensing authorities to more easily limit the number of gambling premises licences in their areas where this is justified.

Where gambling impact assessments apply, licensing authorities can adopt a policy that they will not grant any new premises licences in the areas covered by the assessment. However, this is in no way a blanket ban. Each application for a premises licence must be considered on a case-by-case basis, and a licensing authority would be required to grant a licence if the applicant provides evidence to show that the licence would be reasonably consistent with the licensing objectives (HL Deb 13 April 2026 c167)

Section 87 of the 2026 act is not yet in force.

In a written parliamentary response of 7 July 2026, the government said that it would bring GIAs into force “in due course”. It was considering what preparations and guidance would be needed for their introduction, to enable local authorities to use them effectively. As the guidance was "crucial to the introduction of GIAs", they would not be brought into force until the guidance was ready. The government expects GIAs to be in place by the end of the year.

Government to remove the "aim to permit" provision

On 11 August 2026, the government announced that it intends to remove the "aim to permit" provision from the Gambling Act to "give communities and councils a stronger say over whether new betting shops are right for their area".