Transitional Provisions Order for the Gambling (Licensing and Advertising) Act laid before Parliament

United Kingdom

This article was produced by Olswang LLP, which joined with CMS on 1 May 2017.

The Gambling (Licensing and Advertising) Act 2014 (Transitional Provisions) Order 2014 (the "Order"), the first of the orders required to bring into force the Gambling (Licensing and Advertising) Act 2014 (the "Act") has been laid before Parliament and is available here. The Order does not include provisions for commencement of the Act but does set out the application process timings for those seeking continuation licences and provides much anticipated clarification as to which entities within corporate groups are able to take advantage of continuation rights.

The explanatory note to the Order assumes that the implementation date of the Act will be 1 October 2014. However, a separate order will be required for the Act to actually be implemented on 1 October 2014, this order is not expected to be made until at least 1 September 2014. Given that the date of implementation has already been delayed a number of times and in light of the Gibraltar Betting and Gaming Association's challenge (more detail here) there remains a possibility that the implementation of the Act will be pushed back further.

Continuation licence eligibility

Under the Order, if a person (or a holding company or wholly-owned subsidiary of a person, as those terms are defined in the Companies Act 2006) who, on the date of their application, provides facilities for remote gambling in Great Britain, the arrangements for which are subject to the law about gambling of an EEA state, Gibraltar, Alderney, Tasmania, Antigua and Barbuda or (once the DCMS has corrected its omission) the Isle of Man (each a "Relevant State") has submitted an advance application to the Gambling Commission on or before 16 September 2014 and that application has not been finally determined by the Gambling Commission by 1 October 2014, the Gambling Commission must issue that person with a remote operating licence which authorises that person to provide such facilities for remote gambling as he (or his holding company or subsidiary) provided in Great Britain previously under the law about gambling of a Relevant State.

Licence Fees

The Order confirms that the annual licence fee for the continuation licence will be the same as for the equivalent full licence and allows for a reconciliation should the Gambling Commission determine that a different fee is payable on grant of a full licence.

Timing

The application window for those eligible for continuation licences is now open, this will close on 16 September, by which time all those wishing to take advantage of continuation rights must have submitted their application. The commencement date of the Act is currently intended to be 1 October 2014.