Memorandum from the Mayor of London (DGB
67)
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 This memorandum is submitted on behalf
of the Mayor of London. Under the Greater London Authority Act
1999, the Mayor has a range of specific powers and duties, and
a general power to do anything that will promote economic and
social development, and environmental improvement, in London.
Among the Mayor's functions are:
— The preparation of strategies, plans
and policies for London covering transport, land use planning,
culture, ambient noise, air quality, waste management, biodiversity
and economic development. The Mayor has also chosen to develop
a range of other policy initiatives, covering tourism, children
and young people, childcare, energy, alcohol and drugs, rough
sleepers, domestic violence and poverty.
— Setting the annual budgets for the
Greater London Authority itself, and its four functional bodies:
the Metropolitan Police (which provides policing in the capital
under the oversight of the Metropolitan Police Authority), Transport
for London, the London Development Agency and the London Fire
and Emergency Planning Authority.
The subject matter of the draft Gambling Bill
touches on many of the issues covered by Mayoral strategies, and
growth or changes in gambling will have implications for each
of the GLA functional bodies.
2. GAMBLING AND
THE LONDON
ECONOMY
2.1 The leisure industries[5]
are one of the fastest growing economic sectors in London. This
is largely due to the increases in population and employment in
the city over the past decade, which have led to more people having
more disposable income. London's world city role as a centre of
international trading and business has also contributed to this
growth. GLA Economics[6]
has recently published a report, "Spending Time: London's
Leisure Economy" which identifies the contribution to the
London economy of these leisure industries (a copy is attached
to this memorandum). It estimates that leisure adds £9.5
billion to London's economy. Gambling and betting employs 20,000
people in London, and has sales of almost £900 million. London
also has sixty per cent of the nation's casino bets.
2.2 The strong growth in leisure in London
is linked to significant demographic, economic and social trends
which mean there are more Londoners with the money, time and inclination
to take part in leisure activities:
— The growth in London's population.
— The high proportion of people in
the 25-34 age group in London.
— Londoners' increasing time-poverty,
and longer lives and retirements.
— Increased levels of part-time employment
and gender.
— Growth in Londoners' average earnings.
— Changes in consumer spending patterns.
— Growth in tourism and international
visitors to London.
These are explained in more detail in "Spending
Time".
2.3 Gambling and betting (covering bookmaking,
casinos and bingo) yields more than £900 million in sales
to the London economy. The city has a quarter of the country's
casinos, but more than sixty per cent of the amount bet nationally
is bet in London. In 2002, 2.8 million people visited London's
casinos and gambled an average of £770 each, more than double
the national average. London also has 740 bookmakers, handling
an estimated £2.8 billion in bets and contributing £0.47
billion to the London economy. Bingo is less popular in London
than nationally, with fewer than 50 bingo centres (less than 10
per cent of the national total). While casinos are concentrated
in the West End (because of legal controls over location), the
other elements of the gambling sector are more geographically
dispersed across London, often focussed on town centres.
3. THE PROVISIONS
OF THE
BILL
3.1 The Gaming Board has worked well in
removing criminal involvement from the industry, which has in
the past been a major problem in London. While it makes sense
to have one body responsible for all forms of gambling, it is
important that the new gaming Commission should build on the strengths
of its predecessor organisation, that it is properly resourced
and that it ensures it works effectively with the Police and other
enforcement agencies.
3.2 The licensing objectives set out in
clause 1 of the draft Bill should be expanded. There should be
objectives dealing with:
— ensuring gambling and gaming are
carried out in ways that reflect operators' obligations to the
community at large, particularly with respect to minimising anti-social
behaviour and impact on the local environment;
— ensuring effective co-ordination
of all the licensing and consent regimes involved, and operators'
co-operation with the bodies responsible for their operation (including
local authorities and the Police); and
— ensuring gambling contributes to
sustainable economic development.
3.3 It is essential that all steps necessary
are taken prevent gambling in London once again becoming the target
of organised crime. In particular, entertainment of a sexual nature
should not be permitted in any premises used for the purposes
of gambling or gaming in order both to protect the vulnerable
and to guard against any growth in prostitution. At the suggestion
of the Metropolitan Police Clubs and Vice Unit, we would urge
that Part 8 of the draft Bill should make it mandatory that licensing
authorities should impose a condition in respect of all licensed
premises that any music, dancing or live entertainment:
— shall be ancillary to the gaming/gambling
use concerned;
— shall not disrupt the proper control
of gambling or gaming;
— shall be appropriate in scale and
content to the premises, to the locality and any seasonal, ethnic
or cultural celebrations;
— shall not be performed at a level
causing disturbance to adjoining owners or to people in the vicinity
of the premises; and
— shall not include and lap/table dancing
or any performance of a sexual nature.
It should also be made clear that the serving
of alcohol on premises should only be ancillary to the main use
of the premises—gambling/gaming clubs should not become
merely one more place to drink.
There should also be mandatory conditions for
casino and bingo operators as there are for lottery operators
in clause 77 of the bill. These should cover the issues referred
to earlier in this paragraph.
3.4 Given the roles and functions of the
Mayor, as described in paragraph 1 above, it is important that
the Greater London Authority should be among the bodies the Gambling
Commission should be obliged to consult with before they issue
or revise a code of practice in clause 16 of the Bill.
4. OTHER ISSUES
4.1 We suggest that consideration should
be given to whether it is adequate to leave it to an industry-sponsored
body to carry out research into the scale and nature of problem
gambling, and of ways of tackling it. As the Government has recognised,
there is little wholly reliable evidence on these problems, and
how they might respond to an increase in opportunities to gamble.
What there is suggests there might be differences between experience
in this country and in others. Similarly, there is little research
evaluating treatment strategies for problem gamblers and, perhaps
as a consequence, few mental health or other facilities for people
affected by problem gambling. It is important that research on
these questions is independent and disinterested, and seen to
be so, and this may be questioned if it is commissioned through
a body funded by industry as is proposed. A better solution might
be to make clause 96 of the Bill mandatory, and for research to
be commissioned by the Gambling Commission which could also give
grants for the kind of activity (help lines, counselling services,
research and public awareness-raising) currently proposed to be
run by the industry-led Gambling Industry Charitable Trust.
4.2 Another issue of concern relates to
land use planning. Even the largest casinos envisaged in the Bill
will be smaller than the floorspace thresholds above which planning
applications have to be referred to the Mayor for consideration,
even though they are likely to be fairly significant in terms
of land take. The Mayor would have some locus through the procedures
to ensure borough development plans are in general conformity
with the Mayor's London Plan (spatial development strategy), and
this may be an issue that will be addressed when the Plan that
is currently nearing publication is revised.
4.3 In the meantime, it is important that
casinos and other gambling premises are located in accordance
with national and regional location policy for leisure developments.
Casinos and similar premises may have potential to contribute
to regeneration of some suburban centres. On the other hand, large,
out-of-centre developments (out-of-town leisure "sheds",
or proposals linked with football grounds or dog tracks) with
extensive car parking are unlikely to be acceptable.
December 2003
5 Defined as including dining, drinking, entertaining,
sport and visitor attractions as well as gambling: GLA Economics,
Spending Time: London's Leisure Economy (2003) (http://www.london.gov.uk/mayor/economic-unit/spending-time.jsp) Back
6
GLA Economics is funded by the Greater London Authority, the London
Development Agency and Transport for London to provide a firm
statistical, factual and forecasting basis for policy and decision-making
by the GLA Group. Back
|
