What is a gambling premises licence, who needs one and how to apply for one.

A gambling premises licence is granted for the life of the business. You need to pay an annual fee on the anniversary date of the licence being granted.

Types of gambling that need a licence

You must have a premises licence if you want to have any of these types of gambling businesses:

  • casino
  • bingo
  • adult gaming centre
  • family entertainment centre 
  • track and other betting 

There is a separate document gaming machine licence (44 KB)  for premises that sell alcohol.

To apply for a gambling premises licence you must be:

  • 18 years old or over
  • authorised to make a gambling application on behalf of a company or partnership, for example if you're a manager or director 

You must have: 

Cost of a gambling premises licence

The cost of a premises licence for gambling depends on the type of gambling business:

  • Existing Small Casino: no cost
  • Bingo: £3,197
  • Non-track betting: £2,908
  • Track betting: £1,757
  • Adult gaming centres: £2,000
  • Family entertainment centre: £2,000

To maintain the gambling licence you must pay an annual fee.

Annual fees 

  • Existing Small Casino: £2,519

  • Bingo: £934
  • Non-track betting: £600
  • Track betting: £1,000
  • Adult gaming centres: £1,000
  • Family entertainment centre: £734

Apply for a gambling premises licence

You must complete and return these documents: 

  • premises licence for gambling
  • form of notice
  • notice of application

Post the completed documents to: 

Licensing Team (Temple Street), Bristol City Council, PO Box 3399, BS1 9NE.

You can also hand in the documents to the Citizen Service Point, 100 Temple Street, Bristol BS1 6AG.

You must also:

  • notify responsible authorities by sending a copy of a notice of the application to each of these  document responsible authorities (37 KB)
  • advertise your application by publishing a notice in a locally circulated newspaper, such as the Bristol Post, within 10 working days starting from the day after the application was submitted

If you apply by post you'll also need to give notice of your application and copies of documentation on the same day that you make the application to the responsible authorities.

If there is a problem with your application then we'll contact you as soon as possible.

Types of premises licence for gambling

There are two types of premises licence for gambling, complete the one that applies to your premises:

You'll need to include a:

Notice of application

There are two versions of notices of application.  Complete and return the one that applies to you.

Display the application

You must display a notice of the application at the gambling premises for 28 days starting from the day after the application was submitted.

The site notice must be:

  • on pale blue paper
  • A4 size or larger
  • large font: font size 16 or larger

What happens next

There's a 28 day representation period from the date you apply.  After this has ended if there haven't been any representations from responsible authorities or relevant persons, then we'll grant the licence. We'll issue the licence shortly after.

If there is representation from a responsible authority or interested parties then the licensing committee will need to look at your application.  

We'll arrange a hearing with the licensing committee within 20 working days from the representation period end date. If a hearing is held a licence will be granted, granted with some extra conditions or refused.

Consent to the gambling premises licence

You can assume your application has been granted after the 28 day consultation period has ended unless you've heard from us that there have been representations from responsible authorities or interested parties. This is called tacit consent.