UKGC: No Casino Licence Hearing Objections on Record 2015-19
FOI response reveals no recorded instances of the regulator maintaining objections at casino premises licence hearings over a five-year period.
A Freedom of Information request has revealed the UK Gambling Commission holds no records of objecting at licensing hearings for new casinos between 2015 and 2019. This suggests either that regulatory issues were consistently resolved before hearings or raises questions about record-keeping.
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A Freedom of Information (FOI) disclosure has revealed that the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) holds no records of making formal representations at licensing authority hearings for new or varied casino premises licences between 2015 and 2019.
The response, published following a request made on 9 August 2024, indicates a five-year period where the regulator did not formally object to, or adopt a neutral stance on, any casino application at the final hearing stage.
Context: The UKGC's Role in Licensing
When an operator applies to a local licensing authority for a new casino premises licence under the Gambling Act 2005, or to vary an existing one, the Gambling Commission is a statutory consultee. This means it has the right to review the application and make 'representations' if it has concerns about the applicant's suitability or the proposal's alignment with the licensing objectives, which include preventing crime and protecting vulnerable people.
If the Commission's concerns are serious and cannot be resolved with the applicant beforehand, it can maintain its representation up to the formal hearing held by the local authority. This data is significant as it provides insight into the frequency and nature of the regulator's interventions at this critical stage of land-based casino licensing.
Details of the FOI Request
The request specifically asked for two pieces of information for the period from 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2019:
- The number of casino premises licence applications (new or variations) where the Commission made representations that were maintained until the hearing.
- The number of such applications where the Commission made representations but adopted a neutral stance without formally objecting.
In response, the UKGC stated: "Following a review of our records, (for the timeframe specified in your request) I can confirm that no recorded information falling within the scope of your request is held by the Gambling Commission."
This is not a refusal to provide data, but a confirmation that for the five-year period in question, no such records exist. This implies that no events matching the request's description were recorded.
Significance: What This Reveals
The absence of these records can be interpreted in two primary ways.
Firstly, it may suggest an effective and efficient regulatory process. This interpretation would mean that during this period, any concerns the Gambling Commission had with casino licence applications were successfully resolved through dialogue with the applicants before a formal hearing was required. This would prevent costly and time-consuming disputes, indicating that the pre-application engagement process is working as intended.
Alternatively, the response could highlight a potential gap in the Commission's record-keeping for this specific type of regulatory activity. For a consumer protection organisation, understanding the regulator's level of scrutiny is vital. The statement that 'no recorded information... is held' leaves open the question of whether such interventions occurred but were not formally logged in a retrievable format.
Ultimately, the data shows that from a public records perspective, the Gambling Commission did not formally challenge any casino premises licence applications at the final hearing stage for five consecutive years. This suggests that for consumers and industry observers, any regulatory hurdles for land-based casinos during this time were cleared long before the final decision was made by local authorities.