Bingo Charges (Hansard, 6 April 2000)

§ Lord Bassam of Brighton

My honourable friend the Under-Secretary of State at the Home Office, Mr O'Brien, has laid an Order (The Gaming Clubs (Hours and Charges) Regulations 2000), in the House to simplify the current system of bingo charging.

The current system of charges is set out in Section 3 of the Gaming Clubs (Hours and Charges) Regulations 1984. It prescribes the amount bingo operators may charge by way of admission and participation fees for games during any period of play of up to two hours (currently £10 exclusive of Value Added Tax). It also sets out how the charges should be displayed. The arrangements for the charging notices are, however, complex and in practice most players will not know in advance of deciding to play what charge is being made for an individual game.

The Home Office, therefore, proposes to make regulations that will establish a statutorily based notification system that will specify the form in which participation and any other charges must be notified so that they arc transparent and easily understood. Notices will be displayed at the main point where payment for the charges is to be made.

The regulations will also allow a charge to be made for admission to a bingo club not exceeding £10 per day which will be displayed at, or near, the principal entrance to the premises and a charge to be made for participation in a game of bingo not exceeding £5 for each chance in playing the game. These are upper limits; in practice operators will set far lower charges than this.

The measure will extend to Scotland.

A copy of the Regulatory Impact Assessment has been placed in the Library.