Gambling Policy 2023-2026

Overview

The Council is the licensing authority in Lewisham for the purposes of premises-based licensing activity under the Gambling Act 2005 (the Act).

The Act has three licensing objectives:

• preventing gambling from being a source of crime or 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 persons from being harmed or exploited by gambling.

Every three years we must publish a gambling policy setting out the principles we will apply when exercising our licensing functions under the Act.  Our policy plays a vital role in managing the risk of gambling-related harm in Lewisham and regulating gambling activity to lessen the risk of such harm.

We are proposing some minor changes to our existing policy to:

• correct spelling and grammatical errors
• update out of date references and links
• remove sections of the current policy that were out of date or no longer relevant

We are now consulting on those changes and would like to hear views from residents, licence holders, and other stakeholders.  The consultation starts on 24th July 2023 and ends at midnight on 27 August 2023.

Please read the following Draft Statement of Gambling Policy 2023-2026 document BEFORE answering the 'Online Survey' as this will provide you with all of the necessary background information. For ease of reference this document is also attached at the bottom of the screen as a downloadable PDF:

What happens next

We will consider your views and decide whether to make any changes to the draft policy. We will then present the final version to the Council for adoption and publication