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Gambling Act 2005 (Exclusion of Children from Track Areas) Order 2007

rose to move, That the draft order laid before the House on 21 February be approved. The noble Lord said: My Lords, I shall speak also to the mandatory and default conditions order.These two important statutory instruments are the first among a number of statutory instrumentsthat the Government are publishing in preparationfor implementation of the Gambling Act 2005 on1 September this year. The Act heralds a new relationship between society and the gambling industry. The legislation is basedon three key principles, which are: first, to prevent gambling from becoming a source of crime and disorder; secondly, to ensure that gambling is conducted in a fair and open way; and, thirdly, to protect children and other vulnerable persons from being harmed or exploited by gambling. The Act places the protection of children and the problem of gambling at the heart of the system of regulation for the very first time. The industry will enjoy certain freedoms, but that is balanced by new responsibilities to safeguard customers, which will be backed by the force of the law with the severest penalties. For the first time, we have put in place a single regulator for the whole of the gambling industry. The Gambling Commission is open for business and is taking applications for operating licences. The role of the Gambling Commission is to regulate the industry and to provide a centre of knowledge and advice. Local people will be more involved in the decisions relating to the licensing of gambling premises within their communities and these statutory instruments deal with two aspects of premises licensing administered by licensing authorities: the mandatory and default conditions that will be attached to premises licences and an exemption to allow children and young people into the areas where betting facilities are provided on tracks and sporting venues on days when a sporting event is taking place. The exclusion of children from tracks order extends an exemption that is already in place for horse racetracks and dog racetracks. The exemption will be extended to all other sporting venues, which means that children and young people will be allowed into areas where betting facilities are provided on a day when a sporting event is taking place. This is a practical measure, which reflects the fact that gambling facilities are now widely available at sporting tracks and events. It would be very difficult, and, in the Government’s view, unnecessary, for the track and venue operators to ensure that children and young people did not enter the area where betting was taking place. Indeed, it would not be fair to expect sporting venues to do that when horse racetracks and dog racing tracks are not obliged to do so. Young people go to these venues to watch the sport, notto gamble. We are also satisfied that sufficient safeguards are in place to prevent children and young people placing bets while they are at tracks and sporting venues. The mandatory and default conditions allow three kinds of conditions to be attached to a gambling premises licence. These are mandatory, default and individual conditions. The mandatory conditions are imposed by the Secretary of State in these regulations. Some apply to all types of gambling premises, suchas the requirement to display in a prominent placeon the premises the summary of the terms and conditions of the licence; others are specific to a particular type of premises, such as the requirement for casinos not to offer more than 40 separateplayer positions at automated gaming tables. These conditions are compulsory and the licensing authority cannot change them. Default conditions are also imposed by the Secretary of State in these regulations, but licensing authorities may adjust them to reflect local circumstances if they consider it necessary. The only default conditions that we have included at this stage relate to the hours during which the premises are licensed for the provision of gambling. We have tried to standardise these hours as far as possible. Operators might choose not to open for the whole time; equally, they may apply to the licensing authority for longer hours. Licensing authorities can adjust the hours down, as well as up, if they deem it appropriate. The regulations do not deal with individual conditions, as these are imposed by the licensing authority to reflect local circumstances. It may appear at first sight that we are introducing a lot of conditions, but we consider these to be the absolute minimum standards consistent with the licensing objectives of the Gambling Act. Many of them simply replicate requirements that are already in place under existing legislation; for example, the need to separate out and properly supervise any over-18 areas which contain category C machines in bingo halls and family entertainment centres and on tracks. Other requirements specify that there must be non-gaming areas in casinos, and supervision of over-18 areas must be ensured. All the conditions were the subject of extensive informal and formal consultation with the gambling industry, licensing authorities and community groups. They are designed to ensure that the three licensing objectives, which I enumerated at the beginning of this short presentation, are properly reflected in the way that each type of gambling premises is managed. Licensing authorities will be responsible for ensuring that gambling operators comply with these premises licence conditions. They will do this by checking the plan of the premises which is submitted with the licence application and by visits to the premises. This is a balanced and effective package of conditions, which we believe will ensure that the licensing objectives are met. The conditions will be straightforward for licensing authorities to monitor and will not place an unreasonable burden on the industry, while achieving the three principles behind the Gambling Act 2005. I beg to move. Moved, That the draft order laid before the House on 21 February be approved. 10th Report from the Statutory Instruments Committee.—(Lord Davies of Oldham.)