UK Plan Gives Local Councils More Power to Block New Betting Shops and Adult Gaming Centres
PM Andy Burnham wants to scrap the "aim to permit" rule, letting UK councils block new betting shops and gaming centres as part of a wider high street and tax crackdown.
UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham has unveiled plans to give local councils sweeping new powers to block betting shops and adult gaming centres from opening on Britain’s high streets. The proposal targets the “aim to permit” rule under the Gambling Act 2005, a policy that has effectively forced local authorities to approve new gambling premises whenever an operator meets basic licensing requirements.
Burnham framed the crackdown as part of a broader push to revive struggling town centers, arguing that betting shops, vape stores and “rogue operators” have crowded out the kinds of businesses and community spaces residents actually want. The plans would apply the same treatment to adult gaming centres, which currently offer up to 24-hour access to slot and fruit machines with little local oversight.
What the “Aim to Permit” Rule Actually Changes
The “aim to permit” rule dates back to Tony Blair’s Labour government, when Burnham himself served as a minister during the 2005 liberalization of UK gambling law. Under the current system, councils have limited ability to reject a new betting shop or gaming centre application as long as it satisfies licensing conditions — regardless of how many similar venues already exist nearby or how residents feel about it.
Scrapping that rule would hand local authorities real discretion to say no. New adult gaming centres would additionally require planning permission in England, closing a loophole that currently lets them open with the same ease as a coffee shop or clothing retailer. Downing Street has said a fast-tracked six-week consultation is expected to begin soon, with the goal of having the new rules in place by the start of 2027.
The move builds on changes introduced by Burnham’s predecessor, Keir Starmer, back in April, which let councils weigh the existing concentration of gambling premises in an area but stopped short of eliminating “aim to permit” entirely. Burnham’s plan goes further, aiming to remove the rule outright across Great Britain.
Betting and Gaming Council Pushes Back
The Betting and Gaming Council, the trade body representing licensed UK operators, rejected the characterization that betting shops are “spreading unchecked.” A BGC spokesperson told the Racing Post that shop numbers have actually fallen by more than a third since 2019, with roughly 3,000 closures and over 15,000 jobs lost in that span.
“It’s wrong to lump highly regulated, licensed betting shops together with rogue or criminal businesses,” the spokesperson said, adding that surviving shops still support 37,500 jobs and bring valuable footfall to neighboring businesses. The BGC argued the bigger threat to high streets is more empty storefronts and fewer local jobs, not an oversupply of bookmakers.
Part of a Wider Tax and Regulatory Squeeze
Burnham’s planning crackdown lands on top of a series of tax hikes already reshaping the UK gambling sector. Remote Gaming Duty jumped from 21% to 40% starting in April 2026, targeting online casino games and slots. A new remote betting rate within General Betting Duty is set to rise from 15% to 25% beginning April 2027, though bets on UK horseracing and wagers placed via in-shop self-service terminals will stay at the lower 15% rate.
Machine Games Duty for retail betting shops and adult gaming centres was left untouched in the previous Budget, but that could change when the government delivers this year’s Budget on October 28. The Social Market Foundation, an influential voice in pushing for the earlier online gambling tax hike, has estimated that doubling the Machine Games Duty rate on Category B machines to 40% could generate between £275 million and £458 million in additional revenue.
Taken together, the planning overhaul and the string of duty increases point to a UK gambling market facing pressure from multiple directions at once — tighter local control over where operators can even open, layered on top of a steadily rising tax burden on both retail machines and remote betting and gaming products.