Councils could impose fees over gambling

Pub operators have been warned to resist attempts by local authorities to impose fees for converting gaming machine permits when the new gambling regime comes into force this September.

The Gambling Act 2005 allows for licensees currently holding a Section 34 machines permit to transfer automatically under grandfather rights. But licensing lawyer James Rankin fears that "a number of councils will demand a fee to convert".

"They're wrong," he told delegates to a seminar on the legislation organised by solicitors Kimbells. "There is nothing in the law that says they can do that, and licensees should challenge them if they try it.

"If you have an existing Section 34 permit you don't have to do anything. It will continue until the end of its normal span and be treated as a permit under the new law."

Only when their existing permit expires will licensees who want to continue having gaming machines have to pay a fee to renew the permit.

However, a spokesman for LACORS said: "Legally councils can't make licensees pay who have a Section 34 and we don't expect them to do anything different."

Guidance for the Act is still in consultation. The pub industry, represented by the British Beer & Pub Association, is seeking clarification of the fees structure, parity with clubs on stakes and prizes, and is challenging the current suggestion that each pub should have a 'gaming supervisor' to regulate gambling on the premises.

Pubs will continue to be allowed two AWP machines, with further machines at local authority discretion. A code of practice aims to prevent machines being used by children