Agenda item

The purpose of this report is to update the Licensing and Safety Committee on the voluntary partnership agreement relating to the promotion of responsible gambling in Medway through the Medway Responsible Gambling Partnership.

Discussion:

The Committee was advised on the voluntary partnership agreement relating to the promotion of responsible gambling in Medway through the Medway Responsible Gambling Partnership.

Members raised a number of points and questions including:

·                    Councillor Hicks, the Portfolio Holder for Community Safety and Customer Contact, advised that all operators in the Medway area had attended two meetings and all had supported the voluntary partnership agreement between the Council, the Association of British Bookmakers (ABB) and operators. In addition Councillor Maple and Councillor Juby also attended and were in support of the initiative. It was intended that there would a two year trial with regard to the self-exclusion pilot scheme which it was hoped would start in December 2014 and with regular meetings would be held to check progress.

·                    Concern was raised about how the Council intended to introduce the self-exclusion scheme and to encourage gamblers take the first steps to self-exclude. It was considered that gambling was an addiction and without the right kind of referral to the scheme, it was likely to be ignored by those most in need. It was suggested that agencies such as the Clinical Commissioning Group and the Health and Wellbeing Board could become involved. Gamblers Anonymous was also mentioned.

·                    Following a question regarding the length of time a person could self exclude, the Head of Legal Services explained that as far as she could recall, people would be able to self exclude for a fixed period such as six months or a year. Once a person had self excluded in one premises, the exclusion would be shared with all appropriate premises in Medway. In addition, she stated that the self exclusion form contained appropriate exclusions of liability to protect the Council and the participating companies, and also the self-excluder's consent to the sharing of information for data protection purposes.

·                    It was considered that those who self excluded would need assistance to address their gambling addiction before their self exclusion period ended.

The Licensing and Local Land Charges Manager highlighted that the voluntary agreement that included the self exclusion initiative sat alongside the Gambling Act, Guidance and the Council’s associated policies. The Council had worked with the trade to address issues and this was a good starting point.

Decision:

The Committee:

(a)               noted the cutting edge work undertaken by Medway at the request of the Business Support Overview and Scrutiny Committee that had culminated with the signing of a voluntary partnership agreement between the members of the Medway Responsible Gambling Partnership;

(b)               noted the setting up of a multi operator self exclusion pilot scheme in Medway:

(c)        noted that a report on the progress of the work of the Medway Responsible Gambling Partnership and the self-exclusion scheme be reported to the Committee in the summer of 2015; and

(d)            agreed to refer the Medway Responsible Gambling Partnership and details of the self exclusion scheme to the Council’s Health and Wellbeing Board to investigate the wider issues in relation to raising awareness and usage of the scheme and, once self excluded, the support in place to address the addiction.