The Redbridge Council had become the first authority in the UK to take active measures and strip a local pub of its gaming machine operating licence.
The George pub, which operates as a branch of J S Wetherspoon, has lost its gaming licence because of its repeated failures to prevent children from playing the gaming terminals available at its premises. Yesterday, the licensing committee of the Redbridge Council made a decision to revoke the operating licence of the aforementioned pub. The action follows two test underage purchase operations headed by the licensing enforcement team of the borough and the local police.
The joint operations took place in January and June 2019. As part of the investigation, two undercover police cadets at the age of 14 and 15 managed to enter the pub and were able to use two gambling terminals without anyone being bothered by their actions. At the time of the operations, the pub’s staff were nearby but the two of them were able to spend £3 on the gambling machines without anyone ask them to prove their age first.
There were also two undercover police officers dressed in plainclothes who went into the pub before the cadets and were present at the time of the violations.
The George Pub Becomes the First Venue to Lose Gambling Machine License
The decision to revoke the pub’s gambling machines operating license has been a landmark one for Redbridge Council. One of the council’s members, Sue Harper, has explained that the body intends to use the full weight of the law against businesses that do not stick to their legal obligations to protect young people from gambling-related harm.
Ms Harper also reminded that businesses that hold gambling machines operating licenses are legally obliged to protect underage and vulnerable individuals from being exploited by gambling or suffering gambling-related harm.
Under the Redbridge Council’s decision, the pub is set to lose five of its fruit machines. Still, the venue is allowed to keep two terminals that it is allowed to operate without a permit, after making a pledge that it is to start using technology that alerts the pub’s staff whenever a gambling machine is being used.
A Wetherspoon spokesman has shared that the company takes its responsibility to make sure it complies with the legislation regarding all age-prohibited products and services.
The last few years have seen stricter measures being imposed on gambling companies or premises that offer gambling machines, as the devices have been considered quite addictive, especially to vulnerable people and individuals under 18 years of age.
This has been exactly the reason why Tower Hamlets council has also decided to take measures and tackle the possible harmful impact of gambling operations on local communities. It has decided to no longer allow bookmakers to operate in close proximity to schools, hospitals or sites where the meetings of gamblers anonymous are held. The Tower Hamlets already has some of the strictest gambling regulation across the UK.
- Author
Daniel Williams
