Gambling Act 2005 - Review of Statement of Principles - 2025 - Consultations

Bolton Council are currently undertaking a review of the Statement of Principles for Gambling, as part of our statutory duty, and would welcome your comments on what impacts the principals will have on you or the organisation you represent.

Bolton Council shares responsibility for enforcement of the Gambling Act with the Gambling Commission. The Gambling Commission is an independent non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).

The Council as the licensing authority is responsible for:

• Issuing gambling operators with premises licences.
• Issuing gambling operators with permits (which allow low stakes gambling in venues which are not primarily for gambling).
• Registering societies - allowing them to hold small lotteries.
• Compliance and enforcement of the Act locally.

The Council carries out its functions with a view to promoting the three licensing objectives under the Gambling Act 2005, namely:

• 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.

Section 349 of the Gambling Act 2005 requires licensing authorities to publish a “statement of the principles that they propose to apply in exercising their functions” under the Act.  We now invite responsible authorities, residents, businesses and representatives of existing licence holders and supporting services to make comments as part of the required consultation exercise.

What are the key changes within the Policy?

The key changes are to the Bolton profile, gambling-related harm and Public Health, the location of premises, the local risk assessments, the local area profile, and minor changes to reflect the Greater Manchester Statement of Principles.  The sections that have been reviewed are highlighted yellow within the Gambling Act Statement of Principles document.

Other key documents

• Council Committee Report and Equality Impact Assessment: Gambling Act 2005 Statement of Principles
• Frequently Asked Questions

In providing your comments we’d particularly like to know how the reviewed policy will impact you or the organisation you represent, any impacts on vulnerable groups of people, any proposed mitigation measures to offset these impacts, and any further proposed changes to the statement.

You can submit your comments by email to: consultations@bolton.gov.uk or in writing using our freepost address (you do not need a stamp): 

Freepost RTTT-YTEL-YSXS

Consultation & Research Team,

2nd Floor, Town Hall,

Victoria Square,

Bolton, BL1 1RU. 

If you wish to speak to one of the team directly, please telephone 01204 334875, leaving your name, contact telephone number and the name of the consultation you are interested in: 'Gambling Policy'.