Information about the Gambling Act including the licensing objectives
Gambling definition
The Gambling Act defines three types of gambling:
- Gaming
- Betting, and
- Participating in a lottery
The Gambling Act 2005 defines ‘gaming’ as playing a game of chance for a prize.
‘Betting’ means making or accepting a bet on:
- an outcome of a race
- the likelihood of anything occurring (or not occurring)
- whether anything is or is not true
A lottery is where one pays to enter, and the winner is drawn wholly on chance.
Regulation of gambling
The Gambling Act regulates:
- the provision of facilities for gambling - the Gambling Commission regulates this through 2 different licences, operating licences and personal licences
- the use of premises for gambling - this is regulated by us. To become a gambling premises, a premises licence will be needed. However, there are other types of authorisations that may permit gambling facilities to be provided on particular premises
For more information on premises licences, visit our How to apply page. To find out about other types of authorisations, visit our Permits and/or Temporary Use Notices and Occasional Use Notices pages.
Licensing objectives
The licensing objectives are at the heart of the legislation. They drive much of the thinking both in our policy and decisions made in relation to gambling. These licensing objectives are:
- preventing gambling from being a source of crime and disorder, being associated with crime or disorder, or being used to support crime
- ensuring that gambling is conducted in a fair and open way
- protecting children and other vulnerable people from being harmed or exploited by gambling