Great Britain’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport has submitted its proposed changes to rules and regulations for land-based casinos.
The Casinos (Gaming Machines and Mandatory Conditions) Regulations were laid before Parliament in draft on Monday. This is separate from the government’s white paper that sets out various other changes in regulation for the wider gambling market.
Any changes must be accepted by the government prior to coming into effect. Should the draft regulations pass, they would come into effect on July 22 this year.
Size Guides for British Casinos
Proposals include the size of casinos and how this correlates to the number of betting positions, or gaming machines.
Casinos with a gaming floor area below 280 square meters could only have 16 positions, the least amount permitted by the proposals. The number of positions allowed increases with the size of a casino.
Further examples include 30 positions being allowed for venues measuring between 400 and 419 square meters. This limit increases to 36 for venues with a gaming floor between 460 and 479, with the maximum at 500 for casinos with a floor in excess of 500 square meters.
Could More Changes be Afoot?
While the draft proposes several changes, it is apparent further amendments to rules and regulations could be made. The proposal said the Secretary of State will carry out regular reviews to establish if further changes are required.
The first report of this kind must be published no longer than five years after the rules come into effect. Subsequent reports must be published at intervals not exceeding five years.
These reports should set out key objectives intended by the regulations, if they have been achieved and remain appropriate. If this is the case, further changes could be made to ensure these targets are hit.
