EXPLANATORY NOTE
(This note is not part of the Order)
This Order provides for the transitional arrangements that will apply in respect of advance applications made under the Gambling Act 2005 (“2005 Act”) for, or to vary, a remote operating licence in anticipation of the coming into force of the new licensing requirement in subsections (1)(1) and (2) of the Gambling (Licensing and Advertising) Act 2014 (“the 2014 Act”).
Article 3 provides for continuation licences to be issued to applicants who make an advance application before 16th September and who (or whose holding company or wholly owned subsidiary) provide facilities for remote gambling in Great Britain, the arrangements for which are subject to the law about gambling of another EEA State, Gibraltar or place specified in the Gambling Act 2005 (Advertising of Foreign Gambling) Regulations 2007 (S.I. 2007/2329) at the time of making their application, if their application has not been determined by 1st October 2014. This is when the 2014 Act commences. A continuation licence is a remote operating licence to which the 2005 Act applies with the modifications in article 4. It ceases to have effect on the date on which the Commission finally determines the advance application, unless it otherwise ceases before that date.
Articles 5, 6 and 7 make provision in relation to payment of annual fees as prescribed in the Gambling (Operating Licence and Single-Machine Permit Fees) Regulations 2006 (S.I. 2006/3284).
Article 5 applies where an operator who does not have an existing remote operating licence makes an advance application and is issued with a continuation licence on 1st October 2014—
the first annual fee payable for the continuation licence is that for the kind of remote operating licence issued to the applicant as a continuation licence,
on final determination of the advance application, no further first annual fee is payable if the applicant is issued with the same type of licence as a result,
a further fee is only payable or refund due from the Commission where the applicant is issued with a licence that attracts a different prescribed fee to that paid in respect of the continuation licence, or the application is wholly rejected,
thereafter, the annual fee for the remote operating licence held must be paid before 1st October 2015, and before 1st October in each subsequent year.
Article 6 applies where an operator who has an existing remote operating licence makes an advance application to vary that licence and is issued with a continuation licence on 1st October 2014—
the first annual fee payable for the continuation licence is that for the kind of remote operating licence authorising the provision of the activities that the applicant is authorised to provide under the existing licence and the continuation licence, with credit being given for the relevant proportion of the last annual fee paid in respect of the existing licence,
on final determination of the advance application, no further first annual fee is payable if the applicant holds the same type of licence as a result,
a further fee is only payable or refund due from the Commission where the applicant holds a licence that attracts a different prescribed fee than that paid in respect of the continuation licence, or their application wholly rejected,
thereafter, the annual fee for the remote operating licence held must be paid before 1st October 2015, and before 1st October in each subsequent year.
Article 7 applies where an operator who has an existing remote operating licence makes an advance application to vary that licence which is granted by the Commission (in whole or in part), but is not issued with a continuation licence—
the prescribed first annual fee is that payable for the kind of remote operating licence so varied, with credit given for the relevant proportion of the last annual fee paid in respect of the existing licence;
thereafter, the annual fee for the remote operating licence as varied must be paid before the first anniversary of the date of grant of the variation application, and before the same date in each subsequent year.
A full impact assessment of the effect that the reform of the remote gambling regulatory framework will have on the costs of business is available from Department of Culture, Media and Sport, 100 Parliament Street, London SW1A 2BQ or on www.gov.uk. This Order does not affect the costs as set out in that impact assessment.