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GAMING ACT, 1968
Amusements with Prizes
It is an increasing trend in cafes and public houses to provide
for customers, amusement machines which give prizes. The Gaming
Board saw fit to include these machines within the scope of
legislation, which although one 'gambles' on them, is gaming
in one of its less socially destructive forms. Prizes are paid in
the form of tokens exchangeable for goods supplied over the
counter and not for cash.
There are no known cases of housewives losing the week's
housekeeping or becoming addicted to these machines, as has
often been the case with their more lucrative big brothers, the
one armed bandits, which offer jackpots of as much as £40.
Even so control is considered necessary and while the Police
look after public houses, the Local Authority's Shops Inspectors
inspect cafes and restaurants and recommend the issueof licences
where considered suitable.
Points considered include access by schoolchildren, seating
capacity of the premises and positioning of the machines. In
premises where schoolchildren are likely to frequent the panel of
Councillors who form the Licensing Committee insist on a notice
prohibiting use by persons under sixteen years of age.
Machines are only intended for use by diners and not the takeaway
trade, as in the case of a fish restaurant.
At the end of the year 30 premises held licences issued by the
Local Authority.
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