In July 2024, councillors at Greenwich council in London refused a proposal to open a new 24-hour adult gaming centre, with slot machines offering prizes of up to £500.
There were more than 60 objections from residents, as well as reports of police logs at similar venues in which customers had vandalised machines after losing money and threatened staff. The application went to the planning inspectorate and won on appeal.
A similar pattern in planning committees and hearings has been played out across the country in recent years. Councils have tried to block the development of adult gaming centres, which are often clustered in deprived areas, only for their decision to be overturned by the planning inspectorate.
In an analysis by The Observer of 62 cases that went to the planning inspectorate between January 2021 and July 2024, 43 were allowed on appeal. These centres are often open round-the-clock and offer a range of slot machines to play.
While many high street outlets have struggled for business in recent years, adult gaming centres are enjoying brisk business. Revenues rose to a record £710m in the year to June 2025.
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There are more than 1,400 adult gaming centres across the UK, with two of the leading operators, Merkur and Admiral, running at least 300 venues open 24 hours a day.
MPs, local mayors and officials have criticised the venues for targeting some of the most vulnerable people in communities. They now want to see more powers to restrict the numbers of adult gaming centres
Greg Fell, president of the Association of Directors of Public Health, said: “[Adult gaming centres] concentrate in the most deprived parts of all of our towns and cities. Very few people come out of gambling experiences as winners. Most lose significant amounts of money. Some come to physical, social or mental harm.”
Fell said he would like to see planning authorities given more powers to refuse planning and licensing applications for adult gaming centres where it was considered they would have an adverse impact on the local community.
He said he would also like to see a specific goal of promoting public health as an objective in the Licensing Act and the introduction of “cumulative impact assessments”, which would give councils the right to refuse applications where they considered there were already sufficient numbers in the area.
Keir Starmer said in September that it was important local councils were given more powers to support their high streets and said officials were looking at introducing cumulative impact assessments. Ministers said the required changes would be made “when parliamentary time allows”.
A spokesperson for Bacta, the UK’s leading trade association representing the amusement and land-based low-stake gambling entertainment industry, said: “Adult gaming centres operate under one of the most tightly regulated frameworks in UK gambling.
“New [centres] cannot open without council oversight, a full licensing process and a detailed local risk assessment, and councils already have powers to refuse applications where the licensing objectives would be undermined.”
A government spokesperson said: “We’ve already committed to giving councils unprecedented new powers to limit gambling shops on their high street and we’ll do everything we can to halt the decline that people are seeing in their towns and high streets.”
Photograph by Alamy