The Gambling Act 2005 (Club Gaming Permits) (Authorised Gaming) Regulations 2007

Statutory Instruments

2007 No. 1945

betting, gaming and lotteries

The Gambling Act 2005 (Club Gaming Permits) (Authorised Gaming) Regulations 2007

Made

7th July 2007

Laid before Parliament

9th July 2007

Coming into force

1st September 2007

The Secretary of State makes the following Regulations in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 271(3)(c), (4)(a) and (5) and 355(1) of the Gambling Act 2005(1).

Commencement, citation and interpretation

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Gambling Act 2005 (Club Gaming Permits) (Authorised Gaming) Regulations 2007 and shall come into force on 1st September 2007.

(2) In these Regulations “the Act” means the Gambling Act 2005.

Games of chance authorised under a club gaming permit

2.—(1) For the purposes of section 271(3)(c) of the Act, the games of chance(2) the provision of facilities for which is authorised by a club gaming permit are pontoon and chemin de fer.

(2) The reference in paragraph (1) to the game of pontoon does not include a reference to the game of blackjack, or any other form of pontoon whose rules do not provide for the right to hold the bank to pass amongst players in certain events arising in the course of play.

Authorisation to charge participation fees

3.—(1) For the purposes of section 271(4)(a) of the Act, a participation fee(3) may be charged in respect of any of the games of chance prescribed by regulation 2(1).

(2) The maximum participation fee that a person may be charged in respect of entitlement to participate on any one day in any of the games prescribed by regulation 2(1) is £3 (exclusive of value added tax).

(3) In this regulation, a reference to a day is a reference to a period of 24 hours beginning at midday.

Gerry Sutcliffe

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State

Department for Culture, Media and Sport

7th July 2007

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations prescribe the games of chance that may be played under a club gaming permit (“a permit”) and the maximum amount that may be charged by way of a participation fee in respect of those games.

Section 271 of the Act authorises gaming in accordance with a permit without the need to obtain an operating licence or premises licence. A permit will authorise up to three gaming machines (which must be of category B3A, B4, C or D – except that category B3A may not be made available for use in commercial clubs), the provision of facilities for equal chance gaming which satisfies the conditions in section 269 of the Act (except for the condition which imposes limits on stakes and prizes), and the provision of facilities for other games of chance that are prescribed by the Secretary of State and meet the conditions in section 271(4).

Regulation 2 prescribes pontoon and chemin de fer as the games of chance for which the provision of facilities is authorised under a permit.

Regulation 3 imposes a limit of £3 in any one day on the participation fee for pontoon or chemin de fer.

A full Regulatory Impact Assessment of the costs and benefits of these Regulations is available from the Gaming and Lotteries Team, Department for Culture, Media and Sport, 2-4 Cockspur Street, London SW1Y 5DH, telephone [phone].

(1)

2005 c.19; for the meaning of “prescribed” in section 271 of the Act, see section 276 of the Act.

(2)

For the meaning of “game of chance” see section 6 of the Act.

(3)

For the meaning of “participation fee” see section 344 of the Act.