Registration and licencing of Gaming machines

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WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE BY THE DEPUTY OF ST. JOHN

ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON TUESDAY 23rd NOVEMBER 2004

Question

Would the President advise members –

( a ) w h e ther gaming machines are registered, and, if so, how many currently exist in Jersey and where

they are located?

( b ) of those located in betting shops how many there are in each shop?

( c ) w h e ther the Committee has dedicated staff with responsibility for gambling matters, and, if so, how

many; if not, would the President state the reasons why?

( d ) how the supervision of gaming machines is policed?

( e ) w h e ther there are gaming premises in the Island where croupiers are employed, and if so, where are

these located; if not, would the President advise whether there have been any gaming premises where card games have been played but have ceased to operate in the last ten years? and,

( f) w h e ther the Committee is considering increasing gaming machines in betting shops? Answer

1. Gaming Machines are licensed and registered under Part Two of the Gambling (Gaming and Lotteries) Regulations and through the Gambling (Gaming and Lotteries) (Gaming Machines) (Jersey) Order 2003. The Regulations specify the maximum stake and payout, as well as the minimum percentage payout. Machines that do not comply with these provisions may not be licensed under these Regulations and the Gambling (Jersey) Law (1964) as amended, does not make provision for any other types of machine to be used.

T h ere are currently 28 licensed gaming machines in Jersey, down from 43 in 2003. There has, however, been

a slow increase in the use of illegal machines. These were first notified to the Law Officers' Department in 2000 when one bookmaker introduced them and have been steadily growing to the extent that nearly all the different bookmakers are currently operating them. This year some 75 illegal machines have been identified.

2. The premises operating both licensed gaming machines and illegal machinesare listed below -

GAMING MACHINES IN LICENSED BETTING OFFICES (Illegal Machines are in bold italics)

Joe Jennings (Jersey) Ltd.,

14 Cheapside, St. Helier . 2 1 2

E. Coomes (Jersey) Ltd.,

9 Esplanade, St. Helier 1 1 0

E. Coomes (Jersey) Ltd.,

35 Trinity Road, St. Helier 1 1 0

E. Coomes (Jersey) Ltd.,

1 Bagot Road, St. Saviour 1 1 0

TOTAL 43 in 2003 28 in 2004 78 in 2004

3. The Committeehasone and a half full-timeequivalents currently directly responsible for gambling matters.
4. The machines are policed in a variety ofways.Thedepartment has access toanon-linetracking system to monitor the licensedmachines.Theyalso receive printed movementschedules indicating where individual machines are operating andwhen they are tobemoved.Thesearebackedupby a series of randomon-site inspections. Itwasduringtheseinspections that the operation of illegal machines was detected and the advice of theAttorney-Generalwasrequested to confirm their status. This advice was received in October of this year and as a result theCommittee has written to all licensedbookmakersinforming them that if any illegal machines are still ontheirpremisesafter 31st December2004, they will faceprosecution.
5. Therearenogamingpremisesin the Island that the Committee isaware of that employ croupiers, orother staff involved in the playing of casino style games directly with the public. There are nopremises that the Committee is aware of wherecardgames have been played in the last ten years.
6. The Committee hasno intention of increasing gamingmachines in betting shopsandhas acted to remove machines that are operating illegally. TheCommittee's strategy for modernising theIsland's Gambling Law is toensure that there is no increase in ambientmachinegambling,which it recognises as being particularly significant as a causeof problem gambling.For that reason,theCommittee would only sanction the licensing of new machines within a properly regulated casinoand not on the high street inbookmakersshops. This is because the decisiontogo to a casino would beproperlythought out, which significantly reduces the riskof a person gambling to excess.Highvaluemachines in bookmakers,however, would be a significantrisk because there wouldbenoneed to make a conscious decision togo and play; they could in effect,be happenedupon' by chance during the courseoftheordinaryworkingday.TheCommitteeconsiders this risk to be too great and thus rejects anyincreaseinmachinegamblingwithin licensed bookmakers