UK Aim To Permit Scrap Risks Wider Gambling Act Overhaul
Prime Minister Andy Burnham's plan to scrap the "aim to permit" rule for betting shops and adult gaming centres cannot be done through ministerial announcement alone, licensing lawyers say, and will instead need new primary legislation that could reopen the whole of the Gambling Act 2005.
Burnham unveiled the change on August 11, 2026, as part of a wider high street crackdown that also brings vape shops and adult gaming centres under planning permission rules for the first time.
Downing Street said axeing "aim to permit" would let councils refuse new betting shops and 24-hour slot machine venues "even where there are strong local concerns," with the change targeted for the start of 2027.
What The Government Announced
The reform follows a six-week fast-track consultation led by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, according to the government's own announcement.
Aim to permit sits in Section 153 of the Gambling Act 2005, which instructs licensing authorities to "aim to permit the use of premises for gambling" provided an operator meets Gambling Commission codes of practice and the Act's three licensing objectives.
Why Lawyers Say It Needs A New Act
Licensing law firm Poppleston Allen said removing the principle "will remove the presumption of a grant subject to the operator's ability to uphold the licensing objectives," making new premises applications considerably harder to win, the firm wrote in a note published the same day as the announcement.
Poppleston Allen also pushed back on the government's framing that gambling premises have "spread rapidly" across high streets.
Its analysis of Gambling Commission figures shows licensed betting premises fell from 8,995 in March 2015 to 5,825 in March 2025, while AGC numbers dropped from 1,610 to 1,415 over the same decade.
Total gambling premises in Great Britain fell from 11,758 to 8,234 in that period, even as Downing Street's own announcement pointed to clusters such as the London Borough of Brent, where more than 80 gambling venues include 10 betting shops within a 10-minute walk in Harlesden.
What The Experts Are Saying
Andrew Lyman, Gibraltar's Gambling Commissioner and a former director at the UK Gambling Commission, told iGaming Business that changing a "fundamental principle" of the Act "would need to be changed by primary legislation," and suggested any attempt to sidestep this through planning law changes alone would likely draw a judicial review.
Independent licensing consultant and former Gambling Commission compliance manager Louisa Clark told the same outlet that the aim to permit "is written directly into the Gambling Act itself" and "can't be overturned by making a ministerial announcement, changing local policy or Gambling Commission guidance."
The prospect of primary legislation has already drawn calls to widen the scope of reform.
The Association of Directors of Public Health, which represents public health directors across the UK, said in a statement welcoming the announcement that the move "must be matched by national action, including introducing a gambling advertising, promotion and sponsorship ban," and called for "a new Gambling Act based on public health principles."
What Happens Next
Poppleston Allen noted the government has other unfinished gambling business to work through first, including bingo licensing changes and category D gaming machine rules left over from the 2023 Gambling Act white paper.
With the current framework having taken years to draft and pass in the first place, the early-2027 timetable for new legislation looks tight if a full amendment to the Act, rather than a narrower fix, proves necessary.
The consultation has yet to publish draft wording, leaving open the question of whether the change arrives as a standalone bill, a fuller Gambling Act rewrite, or something narrower.
Operators watching the process will get their first real signal once that document lands, and Gambling.com will track how any knock-on changes to licensing reach online casinos' coverage.
