Gambling licensing policy

Buckinghamshire Council is a unitary authority created in April 2020 from Buckinghamshire County Council and the Aylesbury Vale, Chiltern, South Bucks and Wycombe District Councils.

We cover the previous jurisdiction of those five authorities.

Licensing authorities are required by the Act to publish a statement of the principles which they intend to apply when exercising their functions under the Act.

The statement, or policy, must be reviewed and published at least every three years. This policy is divided into three sections:

• General principles relating to the implementation of the Gambling Act 2005
• Premises licences and guidance on our approach in considering applications.
• Permits issued under the Act

Licensing authorities (such as Buckinghamshire Council) are responsible for licensing premises for gambling activities provided at:

• gaming machine arcades
• betting shops
• casinos
• bingo halls

Residents who are, or who could be, affected by premises providing gambling facilities have an opportunity to influence decisions, subject to the licensing objectives. The Licensing Authority is also able to work with other stakeholders to protect children and vulnerable people from being harmed or exploited by gambling activities.

The responsibility for regulating gambling is shared between the Gambling Commission and licensing authorities. The Gambling Commission is responsible for issuing operating licences to organisations and individuals who provide facilities for gambling and personal licences to persons working in the gambling industry.

The Commission takes the lead role on ensuring that gambling is conducted in a fair and open way through the administration and enforcement of operating 6 licence and personal licence requirements.

The Commission is also responsible for remote gambling activities such as facilities provided via the internet, television or radio.

The Gambling Commission issues national guidance to licensing authorities which must be taken into account when exercising their functions under the Act and preparing statements of licensing policy. A full consultation process must be carried out when preparing any statement of licensing policy. To see who was involved, see our list of consultees.

The Act requires that the responsible authorities and one or more person(s) who appear (to the council) to represent the interests of persons who are likely to be affected by the exercise of the authority’s functions under the Gambling Act 2005 are consulted by licensing authorities.

Consultation took place on this policy between 1st November 2021 and 10th December 2021 and the policy was approved at a meeting of the Full Council on 23rd February 2022.

Any comments in relation to this policy should be sent by email to [email protected] or by post to:

Licensing Service
Buckinghamshire Council
The Gateway
Gatehouse Way
Aylesbury, Bucks
HP19 8FF

This policy statement will not override the right of any person to make an application, make representations about an application or apply for a review of a licence – all of which will be considered on their own merits and according to the statutory requirements of the Gambling Act 2005.

In producing the final statement, the Licensing Authority declares that it had regard to the licensing objectives of the Gambling Act 2005, the guidance issued by the Gambling Commission and any responses from those consulted on the statement.