Legal advice: Casinos and the pub trade
As yet the pub trade is unaware of how it will be affected by new gambling legislation.
By David Clifton of thePublican.com's team of legal experts from London soicitors Joelson Wilson.
The nightclub and bar operator Luminar hit the headlines in the trade press a few weeks ago with its plans to convert 25 to 30 of its biggest nightclubs into casinos when the new gambling legislation comes into force - 2006 at the absolute earliest, in my view.
At the same time, sectors of the pub industry were expressing concern that more casinos (offering alcohol on their gaming floors, live entertainment and large numbers of jackpot gaming machines) will lead to greater competition for pubs.
How big a threat is posed to pubs? Judge for yourself. The changes proposed for casinos set out in the draft Gambling Bill are as follows:
- casinos will no longer have to operate as private clubs and the statutory interval of 24 hours between membership and play will be abolished
- casinos will no longer be confined to certain "permitted areas"
- the demand test for casinos will be abolished
- casinos will be permitted to advertise (although details are awaited in the as-yet-unpublished clauses of the draft bill)
- any kind of legal gambling (including betting and bingo) will be permitted in casinos
- there will be a minimum table gaming area for new casinos of 5,000sq ft
- a division of casinos into two categories, comprising "small" casinos with total table gaming areas of between 5,000 and 10,000sq ft and "large" casinos with total table gaming areas over 10,000sq ft
- casinos will be free to install gaming machines with no fixed prize limits, which may be linked within individual premises (to allow for larger pooled prizes) but not between premises
- "small casinos" will be able to install up to three (not eight as originally suggested) machines for each gaming table to ensure that machines do not unduly dominate the gambling activity
- only "large casinos" with more than 40 "available" gaming tables will be able to offer an unlimited number of gaming machines.
We wait to learn whether there is truth in the recent suggestions that any new major "resort casino" developments will necessarily have to be linked to regeneration projects in deprived areas.
