Joint Committee on the Draft Gambling Bill

Joint Committee on the Draft Gambling Bill First Report

9 Bingo

452. The Government has taken forward a significant deregulation of bingo clubs following the Gambling Review Body Report in 2001.[671] The provisions in the draft Bill further deregulate the industry by abolishing the requirement for bingo clubs to operate as members' clubs and removing the limits on prizes for linked and multiple bingo which holders of standard operating licences will be able to offer. Bingo premises and casinos licensed to provide bingo will also be permitted to operate bingo rollovers, taking money from players' stakes in one bingo game to add to the prize pool in another.[672] This will not be permitted in pubs, clubs or other areas. We believe that these are sensible proposals.

Bingo in casinos

453. The draft Bill provides for casinos with the appropriate operating licences to be able to offer bingo. This proposal has met with a mixed response from the bingo industry with some seeing it as an opportunity for bingo clubs, while others regarded it at a commercial threat. Concern was expressed by the Bingo Association and some individual bingo operators who provided evidence to the Committee,[673] that this would end the traditional separation between hard and soft forms of gambling and threaten the viability of stand-alone bingo clubs. Sir Peter Fry, Chairman of the Bingo Association, told the Committee,

"I would very strongly argue on behalf of my Association that some kind of distinction should still exist between hard and soft gambling because some people who have only been subjected to soft gambling are suddenly translated into a hard gambling environment and could easily be led astray, particularly if they have been in a bingo environment where they think, "That is as much as I can spend." Where they go to play a machine or even a game of roulette, they are suddenly going to find they can chase their losses".[674]

454. The Bingo Association argued that, "bingo players used to playing in the soft gambling environment of today's licensed bingo club could be adversely affected by the harder gambling environment found in a casino".[675] The Committee also heard evidence that the proposal could lead to the closure of some bingo clubs, reducing consumer choice and threatening the future of bingo as a stand alone activity.[676] We were told by the Australian Centre for Gaming Research that "bingo […] was a very popular and accepted gambling activity in Australia until the 1970s. The introduction of more commercial forms of gambling, particularly gaming machines, has reduced bingo to a marginal activity."[677] When asked in oral evidence about excluding bingo from casinos Lord McIntosh of Haringey, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, DCMS, told the Committee, "that smacks of protectionism to me. It seems to me if people want to go to casinos and if they want bingo as an ancillary or other forms of gambling, it is not necessary for the state to intervene".[678]

Soft v. hard gambling

455. Bingo is widely seen as an activity at the 'soft' end of the gambling industry. "Successive governments and many Members of Parliament have come to appreciate that bingo is soft gambling and it does play a part in the fabric of life in many localities".[679] If it became unviable for bingo to operate as a stand-alone activity, then in order to play bingo, customers would have to visit premises where 'harder' gambling activities were available. Castle Leisure "believe that bingo will be used by casinos to encourage C2, D and E bingo customers to trial casinos to upscale them to harder gaming options".[680] Maintaining a distinction between 'hard' and 'soft' gambling maintains the viability of bingo as a stand alone product.

The social aspect

456. The proposal to allow bingo to be played in casinos is considered by some to pose a risk to the social aspect of bingo which is at the heart of many clubs.[681] Sir Peter Fry, of the Bingo Association, told the Committee, "two-thirds of our customers are women. They can go to a bingo club. It is comfortable; it is warm; they see their friends and it is comparatively cheap. I do worry that the reduction in the number of stand alone bingo clubs could have an adverse public effect".[682] Bingo clubs, he argued, are also popular venues for the elderly and can provide a positive social benefit: "For some people, it is the only place they go to apart perhaps from the supermarket. That is their main activity".[683]

457. Some parts of the bingo industry have however welcomed the proposal, seeing it as an opportunity for them to convert their premises to a casino, apply for a casino operating licence and widen the gambling products that they can offer.[684] Gala "stress the fundamental strength and resilience of Bingo" and "do not believe that the social element of the bingo experience will be lost and it is unlikely that there will be a mass conversion of Bingo sites to Casinos".[685] The potential for bingo clubs to convert their premises raises the risk of a proliferation of small casinos.

458. The Committee has reservations about the potential consequences of all casinos being able to offer bingo. We acknowledge that some of these concerns could be addressed under Clause 125 (1) of the draft Bill, which would require existing bingo clubs intending to operate as casinos to obtain a new premises licence. As we discuss in paragraph 417, we consider that the guidance issued by the Gambling Commission to local authorities under Clause 17 should clarify that local authorities should be able to take account of potential problem gambling implications of such conversions and the accompanying risks of merging soft and hard forms of gambling when deciding whether or not to grant a casino premises licence.

459. Under Clause 143 of the draft Bill casino premises would be entitled to offer bingo. We consider that bingo should be ancillary to the casino's core and traditional gaming activities. We would not, therefore have concerns about large or resort casinos offering bingo. However, we consider that Clause 143 should be amended to enable local authorities to prevent small casinos offering bingo. We would expect this discretion to be exercised in accordance with strict guidance issued by the Gambling Commission pursuant to Clause 17, which should take account of the proximity of existing bingo clubs.

Bingo in pubs and clubs

460. The proposed rules applying to offering bingo in pubs and clubs represents a significant change from the current law. Pubs and clubs will have to apply to the Gambling Commission for an 'additional bingo licence' if they have had any period of seven days in which either stakes or prizes have totalled £1,000 or more. The Committee received evidence suggesting that the proposed £1,000 limit was too low.

461. The Committee of Registered Clubs' Associations (CORCA) told the Committee that "the need for an additional bingo licence would be a further bureaucratic burden on private clubs involving, as it must, an extra cost […] the proposed threshold of £1,000 a week is derisory in comparison with the stake and prize levels typically involved in commercial bingo".[686] The Bingo Association has told the Committee that its members would have no objection to an increase in the limit to £2,000 "if this was properly regulated and enforced".[687]

462. The Committee recommends that pubs and clubs should have to apply to the Gambling Commission for an additional bingo licence if in any period of seven days stakes or prizes have totalled £2,000 or more. Clause 238 of the draft Bill should be amended accordingly.

671 DCMS, Gambling Review Body Report, Cm. 5206, July 2001 Back

672 DCMS, Draft Gambling Bill: Policy document, Cm. 6014 - IV, November 2003. Back

673 Ev 609 Back

674 Q 542 Back

675 Ev 189, para 13 Back

676 Q 550 [Sir Peter Fry] Back

677 Ev 694 Back

678 Q 1733 [Lord McIntosh] Back

679 Q 558 [Sir Peter Fry]. See also memorandum by Leo Leisure, Ev 706. Back

680 Ev 607, para 7 Back

681 Ev 189 Back

682 Q 550 [Sir Peter Fry]. See also memorandum by Leo Leisure (Ev 706) Back