Section 291: Bingo halls
743.Under a bingo operating licence, any form of bingo may be offered. This means prize bingo and cash bingo, as developed under the Gaming Act 1968, are both permitted by the bingo operating licence. However, section 21 of the 1968 Act conferred certain entitlements to offer gaming for prizes upon premises licensed under Part II of that Act, which are not covered entirely by the terms of the bingo operating licence.
744.Section 291 permits holders of a bingo premises licence (and necessarily a bingo operating licence) to offer prize gaming, provided the gaming complies with any conditions attached to the relevant bingo operating licence. Such conditions may be added as general conditions by the Commission or imposed by the Secretary of State (see the notes on Part 5 for an explanation of these). In particular, the conditions may restrict the types of games offered under this authorisation. Conditions imposed by the Secretary of State may also relate to any of the matters set out in section 91(1) e.g. impose limits on the size of payments made by players to participate in the gaming, or on the size of prizes.
745.Under the terms of Part 1 and Part 5 of the Act, casinos are granted permission to offer any form of gaming (subject to conditions which may be imposed on a casino operating licence), and no longer need any express permission similar to that offered by section 21 of the 1968 Act. Therefore, Part 13 does not cover casinos.
