The Gambling Act 2005

The Gambling Act 2005 received Royal Assent on 7th April 2005, bringing an end to five years of intensive review of the structure of the gambling industry. Far from being the deregulatory measure originally envisaged by the Budd Review, this legislation has brought rafts of further regulation and has spawned a very bureaucratic regulator, in the form of the Gambling Commission.

The hopes of the bingo industry that the new legislation would provide it with opportunities for widening its product base have been disappointed. Indeed, under the new regime bingo will be no different to what is allowed under the Gaming Act 1968. Opportunities for new games, or even the retention of certain existing games in their current form, have not been forthcoming, despite past assurances that they would be. The industry is being left behind whilst other, competing, gambling facilities will enjoy enhanced capabilities – in some cases with none of the regulatory burden imposed on the bingo industry.

The increased costs of the grossly enlarged regulatory burden serve only to exacerbate the industry’s inability to grow its product offering. Increases in the cost of licensing of up to 75% will hit hardest the small independent operator, who can least afford such increases.

The industry’s issues are not restricted only to the new gambling legislation. Substantially more than any other leisure business, bingo has suffered and will continue to do so as a result of the smoking ban, introduced in Scotland in March 2006 and due to be introduced in Wales and England in April and July 2007, respectively.

The industry is at a loss to understand why one of the softest forms of gambling should have received the harshest treatment from the new gambling legislation.