Clause 34 - Use of premises
Gambling Bill
9:55 am
Mr Richard Caborn (Minister of State (Sport and Tourism), Department for Culture, Media & Sport; Sheffield Central, Labour)
I beg to move amendment No. 21, in clause 34, page 15, line 31, after 'who', insert
'— (a) are acting in the course of a business, or (b) '.
This is a drafting amendment to provide further clarity about the premises excluded from the offence in the clause. Subsection (6) already exempts premises that provide facilities for gambling to persons who are not on the premises. That was intended to cover premises that house remote gambling equipment such as computer servers. There is no need for those premises to be licensed.
The amendment is intended to give further reassurance to businesses that provide opportunities for people to gamble remotely. One example is telephone call centres that accept bets by telephone. Although there are clearly people on the premises providing facilities for gambling, the premises are never used by the public to gamble. The amendment makes it clear that such premises do not need to be licensed either.
Amendment agreed to.
Amendment proposed: No. 154, in clause 34, page 16, line 5, at end add—
'(10) for the purposes of this section ''use'' shall have its normal and natural meaning.'.—[Mr. Moss.]