Agora have just applied for permission to turn a small greetings card shop in my local High St into a "BINGO CLUB". Now my question is will it be a bingo club or an arcade? I have sent an objection in to my local authority ...see below ... what response do you think I will get??
With regard this application for change of use of these premises to a "Bingo Club" I would request that if such an application is granted that strict conditions be attached requiring the "primary purpose" of the unit to be Bingo. I am concerned that the applicant Ablethird may intend to use the premises as an Adult Gaming Centre containing only Gaming Machines, and that applying for change of use to Bingo Club rather than AGC is for the sole reason of securing permission to operate 8 High Jackpot Gaming Machines rather than the 4 permitted in an AGC.
In January 2009 the Gambling Commission issued guidelines on what constitiutes a "Bingo Club" and I would request that the licencing commitee considers these as part of this application.
The Gambling Commission states the following should be considered to establish whether the licence is appropriate and to ensure that the gambling activity appropriate to the licence type is actually offered as the primary activity at those premises; and not simply as an adjunct to, or sometimes wholly replaced by, the making available of gaming machines as permitted by virtue of the licence.
Primary gambling activity
Non-remote general betting, bingo and casino operating licensees
Ordinary code provision
In order to demonstrate that the primary gambling activity for which an operating licence has been issued is being offered in each licensed premises, licensees should have regard to the following general factors:
the ratio of the space available to customers allocated to the primary gambling activity, to that allocated to other gambling activities
the extent to which the primary gambling activity is promoted on the premises and by way of external advertising compared to other gambling activities
the use, either expected or actual, to be made of the different gambling facilities
Licensees should also have regard to the following additional sector specific factors:
Non-remote bingo licensees
Ordinary code provision
the frequency and extent that bingo is, or is intended to be played on the premises, compared with the periods when the premises are open
whether there is:
capacity on the premises for the generation of main stage bingo numbers
a facility to sell tickets or cards for bingo games on the premises
bingo available to be played whenever sessions are advertised
display of prize board information
a means of stopping a game to claim a win.
Not all the indicators would need to be present in a particular case, nor do they preclude others, but the combination of those factors that are present.
As Ablethird is an established operator they may be able to provide examples of other "Bingo Clubs" they own to show how the Acton unit would operate and reassure those concerned that the primary purpose of the unit will indeed be the provision of Bingo and not Gaming machines.
OBJECTION
Perhaps they could purchase one of the boarded up shops in Acton and do it up - make the place look a little nicer !pat624 wrote:I am in Acton , West London.
If they had applied for an AGC then fair enough but am concerned they may be twisting the rules.
"If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?"