Kingston to decide on casinos again

Residents of Kingston in the south west of London will again be asked if they would like casinos within its borough following the authority there deciding to conduct a review of gambling including a consultation of whether casinos would be welcome.

Following changes to the Gambling Act in 2005 local councils are able to decide on whether to license small casinos within their borders and Kingston have already asked residents in 2009 and 2012 about licensing casinos to which the answer was “no”.

Councillor Mike Head, chairman of the licensing committee, said: “We have an absolute responsibility to ensure that the licenses we issue to allow premises to offer gambling are appropriate and don’t impact upon the local area.

“The decision was taken during these reviews that casinos weren’t welcome.

“As part of this review and consultation, we are asking whether it is still the case.

“We want to hear views on what considerations local people would expect license holders to be mindful of.”

In 2005 the Gambling Act was introduced to regulate the building of casinos in the UK, placing tight restrictions on the number of casinos that could open and limiting them to specific towns and regions.

The argument for is that the casinos would create jobs in the town but on the no side with there is already enough bookmakers and gambling machine arcades without casinos.

No date has been set for the consultation.