Gambling with deadlines

According to reports, fewer than half of local authorities have responded to the Department for Culture, Media & Sport's (DCMS) request to be advised of fees they are going to charge for issuing gaming licences and permits, in spite of a June deadline.

There also appears to be reluctance on the part of gambling operators to sign up for the new licences until the last possible moment. The deadline for this is 31 July.

Have we been here before? It sounds remarkably like the alcohol licence transition period in 2005.

Of course, it isn't the same problem - certainly not for the licensed trade - because, as I have pointed out previously, there are far fewer applications to be processed. But the vast majority of pubs have gaming machines and a considerable number will wish to make other types of equal-chance gaming available to customers, including the now-popular poker.

So making sure that the new laws are properly in place seems important.

But the complexities of the gambling laws have caught up with everyone - including the good old DCMS, of course.

The fact that the chores are spread across three participants - the Department, the Gambling Commission and the local authorities - creates its own problems.

Judging from recent conversations, detailed knowledge of the gambling laws is still fairly patchy among council officers - it is not clear how many will be in a position to advise on the legality of your newly-created James Bond sessions on Tuesday nights.

Once again the blame must rest with the Government for trying to carry out wholesale changes all at once, instead of phasing in various stages of the law or being more flexible with deadlines. An almost religious fervour seems to be attached to having a D-Day date which cannot be moved, and forcing everyone to accelerate over the last few weeks.

There was no compelling reason for changing all the levels of gambling law at the same time. There are no universal truths here, and the gambling objectives, while praiseworthy, are nothing new.

Pubs have had restricted gaming for many years and muddled along pretty well, always allowing for complaints over machine-stake and prize limits.

It is to be hoped that the town hall officers will not make life more difficult for the trade as a result of their fervent enthusiasm to get to grips with the legal basics.