Land-based Casino regulations come into force
The long-awaited reforms for land-based casinos (“2025 Regulations”) came into force on the 22 July.
The 2025 Regulations cross-reference other Statutory Instruments that have been amended in both Houses but are not as yet in a consolidated form on the legislation website. The most important is the amended Commencement No 6 and Transitional Provisions Order 2006, which fixed the entitlements for converted casinos back in 2007 upon implementation of the Gambling Act 2005 (“2005 Act”). Legislation.gov.uk has posted a new version that explains that parts of Schedule 4 have been changed The Gambling Act 2005 (Commencement No. 6 and Transitional Provisions) Order 2006.
The amendments permit all converted casinos to provide betting facilities in line with the table in the 2025 Regulations and also implement the “extended gaming machine entitlement” for those converted casinos which meet minimum size requirements, and which form a new category of “extended converted casino premises” as defined in the 2025 Regulations.
These changes finally honour the commitment made by the then gambling minister, Richard Caborn, to the casino industry back in December 2004, when the then government’s casino policy was revised to allow only a restricted number of new Large and Small Casino Licences under the 2005 Act.
The government committed to reviewing the entitlements for converted casinos not less than 6 years after the implementation of the 2005 Act. This was to enable the new style 2005 Act casinos to be developed, and their impact assessed. Repeated governments have failed to progress the review because of the delays in take up of the new Small and Large Licences. Only four large casinos have been constructed and operated (and indeed the one in Milton Keynes is currently closed following the recent collapse of Aspers).
Only four of the Small Casinos have been developed and the one in Bath ceased trading at the time of the pandemic. The other three Small Casinos are e up-grades of existing 1968 Act Casino premises. One of the main reasons for the lack of interest in developing Small Casinos was the illogical selection of a machine to table ratio of 2:1, whereas Large Casinos had a machine to table ratio of 5:1.
This meant that in order to make available the maximum number of machines Small Casino premises had to be larger than Large Casinos premises. To achieve the maximum 80 machines the casino required 40 live gaming tables. A large casino only requires 30 tables to secure the maximum 150 machines. When the Act was reviewed by the Culture, Media and Sport Committee in 2012 the former gambling minister, Richard Caborn, was unable to explain why the 2:1 ratio had been selected.
The reforms have now implemented a standard machine to table ratio of 5:1 for all casinos that meet prescribed minimum size requirements. However, only those converted casinos that have a minimum gambling area of 500 sqm will be entitled to the maximum number of 80 machines. The revised Transitional Provisions establish a sliding scale of entitlement for all casinos that have a minimum gambling floor area of between 280 and 480 sqm. These extended converted casinos will be required to provide a dedicated Table Gaming Area in common with 2005 Act Casinos.
The reforms now enable operators to apply to vary their premises licence to revise their layout plans to comply with the new Mandatory Conditions and to secure the extended gaming machine entitlement to make gaming machines available in accordance with paragraph 65 (6) (za) of Schedule 4 to the amended 2006 Transitional Provisions Order.
Those casinos with a minimum gambling area of 280 sqm will be entitled to additional machines on a sliding scale in bands up to the maximum of 80 for those casinos with a minimum gambling area of 500 sqm but the actual number of machines that can be made available is dependent on the number of live gaming tables operated in the dedicated Table Gaming Area. The definition of gaming tables has been revised in a further Statutory Instrument that also took effect on 22nd July - The Gambling Act 2005 (Gaming Tables in Casinos) (Definitions) (Amendment) Regulations 2025
Once the extended gaming machine entitlement has been taken up operators will not be able to revert to the basic converted casino status. However, operators are not obliged to seek extended converted casino status and can chose to stick to the fixed entitlement of 20 machines. Indeed there are a significant number of casinos that have gambling areas of less than 280 sqm, many of which operate as fully electronic casinos. These are often located in a physically separate area in the casino venue or immediately adjacent to the main casino. In order to ensure that the maximum of 80 machines was not exceeded in “venues” where there are 2 or more casino licences the revised Transitional Provisions limit the total number of machines to 80 across all casinos at the “venue.”
The ability to offer the sliding scale of betting positions set out in the 2025 Regulations is contingent on operators securing variations to their Operating Licences to add non-remote betting and apply for a new Remote Betting Operating Licence should they wish to install self-service terminals.
This was made clear in the Gambling Commission’s initial guidance on the reforms and has been repeated in the final version published and posted on 21st July. Non-Remote Casino Sector – legislative changes guidance.
I will be publishing a more detailed summary of the changes once the consolidated versions of the 2006 Order and related Regulations have been published, along with details of how DCMS have been able to re-commence a 2006 Commencement Order. The Gambling Commission will also hopefully expand its guidance to Licensing Authorities and in particular the need for Notices of Grant and Varied Licences to include reference to “extended converted casino premises licence”. Given Mandatory Conditions are not endorsed on the face of Premises Licences the title of the licence will be the only way that Responsible Authorities will be able to tell which set of Mandatory Conditions apply.
The implementation of the reforms has required complex revisions to the original 2006 Transitional Provisions Order in addition to revisions to the 2007 Mandatory and Default Conditions (England and Wales) Regulations and the 2007 Premises Licence and Provisional Statement Regulations. It was always known that the reforms could only be implemented by amending existing secondary legislation given that converted casino premises licences are not casino premises licences as defined in Section 150 of the 2005 Act.
Had the government implemented the reforms through primary legislation it could have led to significant delays in finding parliamentary time. Both the last government and the present government acknowledged the urgency of the reforms to stem the escalating closures of casinos and in particular since the pandemic. There would also be the uncertainty as to whether primary legislation would be approved.
The reforms do not extend to Scotland as yet because Scottish Ministers would need to agree to progress similar secondary legislation.
Click here to read my previous article about the changes to the regulations.
