§ Mr. RiddickTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will outline the statutory or licensing restrictions which apply to gambling in pubs or other licensed premises; and what consideration is being given to amending them.
§ Mr. Peter Lloyd[pursuant to his reply, 18 March 1993, c. 319]: Section 6 of the Gaming Act 1968 permits, in public houses and hotels licensed for the sale of liquor, the playing of dominoes, cribbage and any other form of equal chance game authorised by the appropriate liquor licensing authorities. To prevent abuse, the justices are empowered as a safeguard to impose conditions that forbid play for high stakes or stop the gaming from becoming a primary inducement to custom; and people under 18 are debarred from play.
Under section 34 of the 1968 Act, the holder of a justices' on-licence may also apply to the justices for a permit to provide one or more amusements-with-prizes machines offering prizes up to £3 in cash or £6 in tokens against a maximum stake of 20p.
There are at present no plans to amend these restrictions.