Casinos (Gaming Machines and Mandatory Conditions) Regulations 2025

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth Excerpts

Tuesday 17th June 2025 Grand Committee

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Culture, Media and Sport (Baroness Twycross) (Lab)]

My Lords, I am pleased to speak to these regulations, which were laid before the House in draft on 12 May. This instrument has been considered by the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee and was not drawn to the special attention of the House. It is part of a package of statutory instruments that, together, make a number of changes to the legislative framework for land-based casinos.

If these regulations are approved by both Houses, I intend to sign two related statutory instruments that follow the negative procedure: the Gambling Act 2005 (Commencement No. 6 and Transitional Provisions) (Amendment) Order 2025 and the Gambling Act 2005 (Premises Licences and Provisional Statements) (Amendment) (England and Wales) Regulations 2025. The former extends existing casino entitlements, and the regulations we are debating today introduce protections—equivalent to those for 2005 Act casinos—for converted casino premises as a result of the extended entitlements.

The premises licences and provisional statements regulations amend existing procedures so that a converted casino operator can apply to its licensing authority to vary its premises licence to enable it to exercise the extended entitlement. We published the negative instruments in draft on 12 May, the same day that these regulations were laid, to provide transparency about the range of changes we are proposing and to allow for proper scrutiny. None of the interconnected legislative instruments will be made unless the protections in these regulations are approved by Parliament.

The Government are focused on economic growth. I believe that enabling a responsible gambling sector to grow is compatible with creating an even safer one. We have already brought forward measures to improve consumer protections, including the introduction of stake limits for online slot games and establishing a statutory levy on gambling operators, to fund the research, prevention and treatment of gambling-related harms. Our manifesto also committed to working with industry to ensure responsible gambling, and we acknowledge the difficulties that land-based gambling businesses, particularly casinos, have faced since the Covid-19 pandemic. Therefore, following a consideration of the best available evidence, we intend to proceed with a series of reforms for the land-based casino sector.

Since being appointed, I have visited casinos and witnessed the contributions that they bring, with jobs, tax revenues and support for the night-time economy. The casino sector directly employs around 10,000 people, with many in non-gambling roles such as hospitality. Venues are often steeped in history and feature bars, restaurants and, in some cases, theatres. The sector generates £866 million in gross gambling yield each year, with up to 50% of this paid in gaming duty. We intend to implement measures that are estimated to increase this GGY figure by £53 million to £58 million.

Many of the restrictions that apply to land-based casinos derive from legislation that had not envisaged the rise of online gambling. In light of this, restrictions on product availability in casinos are now less important for protecting customers than factors such as the design of products and the quality of monitoring. We therefore intend to change the restrictions that apply to the supply of some products, giving casinos greater freedom about what they offer customers. None of this will be at the expense of protecting customers from gambling-related harm.

There are two types of casino licence. The first is for those who were already operating when the Gambling Act 2005 came into force, which I will refer to as “converted casinos”. The second are those created by that Act. The Act created two types of casino within this licence category, which I will refer to as “small casinos” and “large casinos”. Converted casinos are generally allowed only 20 gaming machines, or at least one is a category B machine, regardless of their size. This compares to up to 80 machines for small casinos and 150 for large casinos.

To support the sector, this package will give converted casinos the option of having the same gaming machine allowance as small casinos. For converted casinos with a gambling area that is smaller than the minimum required for a small casino—500 square metres—a sliding scale will apply for gaming machine allowances commensurate with their size. This will more closely align the rules for all casinos.

Converted casinos will have to abide by a number of strict conditions in order to increase the number of machines they offer. If they wish to site 80 gaming machines, they will need to meet the same size requirements as small casinos. This means that they must have a gambling area of at least 500 square metres, a non-gambling area of at least 250 square metres and a table gaming area of at least 250 square metres. They will become subject to a maximum machine-to-table ratio, meaning the number of machines in the casino cannot be more than five times the number of tables available for use. An additional protection prevents these casinos from siting more than 80 machines within casino premises that are connected to each other. Smaller converted casinos will be allowed to increase their gaming machine entitlement depending on their size. Their table gaming and non-gambling areas will need to be at least half the size of their gambling area.

These rules are vital to ensure that customers are offered a mixture of gambling and non-gambling opportunities when they visit a casino. The strict requirements on how much space can be allocated to each activity will mean that, even with an increase in the number of machines, casinos will not be overwhelmed with an electronic offering. This instrument also introduces a maximum gambling area for converted casinos. In allowing converted casinos a similar entitlement to small casinos, it is fair and consistent that they are subject to similar restrictions. Therefore, all converted casino premises will be limited to a maximum gambling area of less than 1,500 square metres, matching the maximum gambling area allowed for small casinos. However, a conditional exemption is made for casinos that currently operate with a gambling area of 1,500 square metres or more.

This package of instruments will also allow betting to take place in all converted casinos. The current regulatory framework prohibits these casinos from offering betting products, whereas venues licensed under the 2005 Act can do so. The prohibition makes little sense, as a casino customer can place a bet on their mobile phone while in the venue but not with the casino itself. This change will allow converted casinos not only to offer a new gambling product but to invest in other parts of their venues, such as sports bars. A limit would be put on the number of separate betting positions or self-service betting terminals that can be offered by the casino.

Finally, I draw the Grand Committee’s attention to two changes that this instrument will make to small casinos. They are currently required to comply with a maximum machine-to-table ratio of 2:1, whereby for every table in use, the casino is permitted to offer a maximum of two gaming machines. This ratio will be updated from 2:1 to 5:1, to align small casinos with large ones and to prevent operators from having to provide tables for which there is no customer demand. Small casinos are also currently required to have a minimum table gaming area of 500 square metres; as a result of these regulations, this requirement will change to 250 square metres. This will amend an anomaly whereby the minimum gambling area and minimum table gaming area were required to be of the same size.

This is a sensible package of measures that will update the outdated restrictions that currently apply to land-based casinos. It strikes the right balance between supporting the sector to grow, while still ensuring that those who visit these venues will be protected from gambling-related harm. I beg to move.

[Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Con)]

My Lords, first, I thank the Minister for setting out what is, in many ways, a very technical SI, as well as the two related SIs to which she referred.

I understand that a lot of the pressure and motivation —if not the only motivation—behind this measure is economic growth and the international competitiveness dimension. However, I certainly had some concerns on reading through the SI. Perhaps I am unique in this —I do not know—but it seems to me that the regulations would potentially alter the split between gaming machines and table-based gaming, which I think the Minister referred to, from 2:1 to 5:1. That is quite a considerable shift. The latter form, table-based gaming, represents a less intense gaming experience and is, I would argue, potentially less harmful to consumers. The Minister will know that 25% of casinos in this country are in the poorest decile of the country; we should therefore be concerned about the connection with gambling harm. Has there been a corresponding increase in space and opportunities for customers to take a break from gambling? There has been an increase in the space available for gambling machines. If there has been an increase in the areas for non-gambling, what is that increase, and what sort of facilities do these areas represent?

It is very clear in the analysis and the evidence that the annual increase in income for the gambling sector after three years is between £52 million and £63 million per annum—the gross gambling yield, I should say—with a median figure of £58 million. I recognise that that is obviously subject to costs and tax, but it still represents a considerable increase. Should we not at the same time be increasing the amount that is put aside to help with gambling addiction and gambling harm? There is no indication of that happening here in the measure.

If one looks at the theme of the analysis and the evidence, which I have done, it is quite clear. Page 4 of the impact assessment states:

“There is a risk that this measure increases the prevalence of gambling-related harm”.


Page 37 states that

“there is a risk that gambling harm will increase with the implementation of this measure”.

That is my concern: we should be doing something about that. I am not against the measure as such. Clearly, economic growth is desirable, but should we not at the same time be concerned about gambling harm, which it is quite clearly an ill in society, including in some of the poorest communities of the country?

[Lord Foster of Bath (LD)]

My Lords, I am absolutely delighted to follow the noble Lord, Lord Bourne. I share the concerns that he expressed. I am not going to oppose this statutory instrument but I want to raise some concerns about it, not least in terms of the potential impact on increasing gambling harm.

The Minister has been very generous with her time in speaking with me on a number of occasions recently; I am very grateful for that. She already knows that I have considerable concern about the Government’s current approach, which seems to suggest that, in the wider desire of the Government to increase the whole state of the economy in the country, they also want to grow the gambling industry as part of that. I have argued with the Minister—although I know that she disagrees—that it is simply not possible to grow the gambling industry without also having an increase in gambling harm, whereas she and the Government believe that it is possible both to grow the industry and to reduce the level of gambling harm. You would not increase the tobacco industry and expect it to reduce the consumption of tobacco; the same is true for products in the gambling sector. No doubt this debate will continue between me, the Minister and others over the coming months.

If I look at this statutory instrument, I have some real concerns about it. We have with it an impact assessment. A few minutes ago, the noble Lord, Lord Bourne, asked a simple question: could we have some more data about the length of time spent on these machines? He will be delighted to know that, on page 19 of the impact assessment, that data, which we are told is

“a useful insight into how customers currently play on gaming machines”,

is provided. Unfortunately, however, all of the figures are blacked out. We are advised that this is helpful information, yet it—together with many other bits that would be very helpful to us—is blacked out.

The noble Lord, Lord Bourne, is concerned about some of the parts of the report that talk about the possibility of these measures leading to increased gambling harm. Paragraph 2.68 says:

“Overall, the existing evidence on the causal link between increasing the number of gaming machines in casinos and harm is inconclusive”.


So it is not convinced. It goes on:

“Although we have data on gaming machine participation rates and harm, we are unable to confidently state the nature of the causal connection between the two”.


This evidence that we have, the most useful bits of it blacked out, suggests that even the Government are not sure about the level of harm.