The Committee considered a report on a revised Statement of Gambling Licensing Principles (Gambling Policy) to cover the period 31 January 2025 to 30 January 2028. The following documents were appended to the report:

·                Appendix RS-1 - Draft Statement of Gambling Licensing Principles 2025-2028

·                Appendix RS-2 - Climate Impact Assessment

·                Appendix RS-3 - List of Consultees

·                Appendix RS-4 - Responses to Consultation

·                Appendix RS-5 - Gambling Premises Licence Fees

Under the Gambling Act 2005, the Council, acting as Licensing Authority, had responsibility for granting premises licences in the Borough of Reading in respect of:

·                Casino premises;

·                Bingo premises;

·                Betting premises, including tracks;

·                Adult Gaming Centres;

·                Family Entertainment Centres.

The report explained that the Gambling Act 2005 Act required the Council to prepare and publish a Statement of Principles (or Gambling Policy) to set out how the Council would fulfil its responsibilities and exercise its functions under the Act. The Act required the Policy to be reviewed every three years and the report explained that the new Policy would need to be in place by 31 January 2025 when the current Policy was due to expire.

A consultation on a revised Statement of Gambling Licensing Principles had been conducted between 16 August 2024 and 13 September 2024.  Consultees included various bodies within the gambling industry, groups that dealt with the effects of gambling and the responsible authorities as defined in the Gambling Act. A copy of the responses received to the consultation exercise was attached to the report.

The report explained that some minor changes had been made to the Statement of Gambling Licensing Principles. The changes included updates to the contact details provided within the document, updates made to demographic figures and statistics within the document, and updates to maps.

Resolved:    That Council be recommended to approve the revised ‘Statement of Gambling Licensing Principles' as attached at Appendix RS-1.