Bacta warns of judicial review over licence revocation

Bacta, the trade body representing amusement arcades and adult gaming centres (AGCs), has told NEXT.io it would consider a judicial review if the government allows local authorities to pursue licence revocation simply to reduce the number of gambling premises in an area, rather than in response to a specific breach of the licensing objectives.

The warning follows confirmation from the government that it intends to remove the ‘aim to permit’ principle from the Gambling Act 2005, applying to betting shops, bingo halls and AGCs. New Prime Minister Andy Burnham has been critical of the number of such premises on high streets, and full detail on the new licensing model is expected in a government consultation in due course. What that consultation has not yet settled is whether the change will extend to existing licences, not just new applications. Reform campaigners, including Social Market Foundation senior fellow James Noyes, have called for local authorities to be given powers to revoke licences already in issue, not only to refuse new ones.

That is the specific prospect Bacta is objecting to. Bacta president Joseph Cullis said businesses that had operated lawfully for decades, some for generations, could not simply have their licences taken away, and that a move towards licence revocation on that basis would be legally contested.

Under the current law, licence revocation is limited to cases involving a specific breach of the licensing objectives. Leigh Schelvis, a licensing and regulatory solicitor at Schofield Sweeney, said operators who had been granted a licence and had operated in promotion of the licensing objectives would have grounds to challenge a revocation based solely on the type or number of gambling premises in an area, rather than on their own conduct.

The Social Market Foundation has separately highlighted research suggesting AGCs cluster in more deprived areas, which it says supports the case for stronger local authority control. Whether the government’s eventual consultation extends to licence revocation, or is limited to new applications, will determine how much of Bacta’s concern materialises. IoL will provide further detail once the consultation is published.