Gaming centre won’t be named says council

THE name of am arcade that failed a test purchase for underage customers will not be released by Wokingham Borough Council (WBC).

Council licensing officers carried visited gambling venues in December.

One unnamed ‘adult gaming centre’ allowed someone to use machines in an over-18s only area for 10 minutes before asking for ID.

The council says the reason for not naming the centre is that its owners have not been prosecuted, and its license is not under review. Another test will be carried out in the next six months.

A Wokingham Borough Council spokesperson said: “As it stands, there is just one alleged breach around age verification, which in isolation would not justify a full review of the licence or prosecution at this point in time.”

The sting operation involved sending a young person into gambling venues to see how long it took for staff to ask them for ID. Licensing officer say no young person should be allowed to enter an under 18s area without being challenged ‘in a short space of time’.

The spokesperson said: “The gaming centre, which failed the test purchase, has an area for over-18s only. The young person was able to enter the area and use the gaming machine for around 10 minutes before being challenged.”

WBC now says its officers are working with the venue’s management.

It added that if the venue fails again, the council will consider reviewing its license, with the final decision made by a sub-committee of councillors. However, the council says its focus is on getting the venue to improve.

The spokesperson said: “The licence holder will need to carry out their own risk assessment around age verification – this will often include tighter measures around signage and staff training to build resilience.

“We adopt a pragmatic and sensible approach to enforcement. In this case we have carried out a test purchase and we are not satisfied with the result. We have raised this with the licence holder, for them to consider their business practices.”

They added: “The aim is for the licence holder to take responsibility for their authorisation, to take steps to ensure that age verification procedures are correctly followed.”