Aberdeen Gambling Licence

Who issues gambling licences in Aberdeen?

Two separate bodies issue gambling licences in Aberdeen. The UK Gambling Commission grants operating licences and personal licences across Great Britain. Aberdeen City Licensing Board grants premises licences, club permits, gaming machine permits and notices for sites within Aberdeen City. Neither body can grant what the other grants.

Section 2 of the Gambling Act 2005 names the licensing authority in Scotland. That authority is a licensing board established under section 5 of the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005, not the council itself. Board members are elected councillors, but the board decides gambling applications in its own right, not as a council committee. Aberdeen City Licensing Board is that board for Aberdeen City.

Aberdeenshire is a different council area with its own board. Premises in Peterhead, Inverurie or Stonehaven are licensed there. An application filed with the wrong board costs both the fee and the wait.

Confusing the two layers is the most expensive early mistake. An operating licence on its own does not let you open a shop in Aberdeen. A premises licence on its own does not let you take a bet.

What is a premises licence and how do you apply in Aberdeen?

A premises licence authorises gambling at one named site. Aberdeen City Licensing Board grants premises licences under Part 8 of the Gambling Act 2005 for bingo premises, betting premises, adult gaming centres and family entertainment centres. Applications use the forms prescribed in the Premises Licences and Provisional Statements (Scotland) Regulations 2007.

The entry condition sits in section 159 of the Gambling Act 2005. You must already hold an operating licence for the activity, or have an application for one still undecided. Track betting premises are the exception and carry no such condition.

Notice of the application goes to the responsible authorities named in section 157. For premises in Aberdeen those are:

the UK Gambling Commission

the chief constable of Police Scotland

• the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service

• the planning authority under the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997

• the environmental authority for the area

• HM Revenue and Customs

• the body Aberdeen City Licensing Board names to advise on protecting children from harm

Where nobody makes representations, Aberdeen City Licensing Board can decide the application under delegated powers, without a hearing. Where representations are made and not withdrawn, section 162 requires a hearing before the board or a committee it has delegated to.

The grounds for skipping that hearing are narrow: representations that are vexatious, frivolous or certain not to change the outcome. Aberdeen City Licensing Board must then tell whoever made them.

A provisional statement is the route for a site that does not yet exist or is not yet fit for use. The same 2007 regulations prescribe its form.

What is an operating licence?

An operating licence authorises the gambling business, not the building. The UK Gambling Commission issues operating licences for most gambling offered in Great Britain. Licences split by activity and by channel, so remote and non-remote operations need separate cover. Application and annual fees run on bands set by gross gambling yield.

Fee bands, application evidence and the remote against non-remote split sit on our United Kingdom gambling licence page.

What is a personal licence?

A personal licence attaches to a named individual, not to a company. The UK Gambling Commission issues two kinds: a personal management licence for specified management functions, and a personal functional licence for certain casino roles. A personal functional licence application costs £185 and a personal management licence £370, with both rising on 1 October 2026.

Personal licences do not expire. Maintenance falls due five years after the anniversary of first issue, and a maintenance fee is payable at that point. Role definitions and evidence requirements sit on our UK Gambling Commission licensing page.

What permits and notices apply in Aberdeen?

Permits and notices cover gambling that sits below a premises licence. Aberdeen City Licensing Board handles club gaming permits, club machine permits, licensed premises gaming machine permits, and temporary and occasional use notices. Each carries its own fee, its own duration and its own objection route under the Gambling Act 2005.

Club gaming and club machine permits

A club machine permit lets a club site up to three gaming machines. Members' clubs and miners' welfare institutes may use categories B3A, B4, C or D, with only one B3A machine. Commercial clubs may use B4, C or D. A club gaming permit adds equal chance gaming and is limited to members' clubs and miners' welfare institutes.

Fees come from the Club Gaming and Club Machine Permits (Scotland) Regulations 2007. An application costs £100 from an existing Part 2 or Part 3 operator and £200 from anyone else. Renewal costs £200, a variation £100 and a replacement copy £15.

A permit runs for ten years. The first annual fee of £50 falls due within 30 days of issue, then £50 before each anniversary.

Renewal has a narrow window. An application goes in no earlier than three months before expiry and no later than six weeks before it. The UK Gambling Commission and the chief constable may object within 28 days of the application date.

Licensed premises gaming machine permit (s.282)

Alcohol-licensed premises get an automatic entitlement to one or two gaming machines of category C or D under section 282 of the Gambling Act 2005. The holder of the on-sales licence notifies Aberdeen City Licensing Board and pays £50. A licensed premises gaming machine permit is the route to more machines than that.

Permit fees come from the Licensed Premises Gaming Machine Permits (Scotland) Regulations 2007. An application costs £100 from an existing operator and £150 from anyone else, then £50 as a first annual fee and £50 before each anniversary. A variation costs £100 and a copy £15.

The permit lasts as long as the alcohol licence behind it holds good.

Temporary and occasional use notices

Notices let gambling run at premises with no premises licence. A temporary use notice can be given only by an operating licence holder, for activity that licence already covers. Section 218 caps it at 21 days per set of premises in any twelve months. An occasional use notice covers betting on a track.

A temporary use notice goes in before the period of three months ending the day before the event. Copies go to the licensing authority, the UK Gambling Commission, the police and HM Revenue and Customs. Objections run for 14 days.

An occasional use notice allows eight days per track in a calendar year and carries no fee. Neither notice covers gaming machines. Both instruments sit on our temporary gaming licence page.

What are the licensing objectives and compliance rules?

Three licensing objectives govern every decision under the Gambling Act 2005. Gambling must stay free of crime and disorder, run fairly and openly, and cause no harm to children or other vulnerable people. Aberdeen City Licensing Board applies the objectives to premises decisions. The UK Gambling Commission applies them through the LCCP.

The LCCP, the licence conditions and codes of practice, is where operating licence duties actually live. It covers anti-money laundering controls, customer interaction, age verification, marketing rules and the reporting of key events.

Anti-money laundering duties run under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and the money laundering regulations. A suspicious activity report goes to the National Crime Agency whenever there is knowledge or suspicion, with no monetary threshold to clear first. The United Kingdom has no currency transaction report.

Advertising falls under the Advertising Standards Authority codes and the industry's own code. The whistle-to-whistle restriction on television betting adverts around live sport is a voluntary industry commitment, not a statutory ban.

Aberdeen City Licensing Board must publish the principles it applies. Section 349 of the Gambling Act 2005 requires a fresh statement before each successive three-year period.

How much does a gambling licence cost in Aberdeen?

Scottish Ministers fix premises licence fees in Aberdeen, and Aberdeen City Licensing Board does not set them. The Gambling (Premises Licence Fees) (Scotland) Regulations 2007 prescribe them by class of premises. A new betting premises application costs £2,100, with a £400 annual fee. Operating and personal licence fees are separate and go to the UK Gambling Commission.

The first annual fee after a new application is 75% of the annual fee, which is why the two columns differ.

Non-payment is fatal rather than merely late. Section 193 requires Aberdeen City Licensing Board to revoke the premises licence where the annual fee goes unpaid.

Permit and notice fees are smaller and sit in the sections above. Operating licence fees run on gross gambling yield bands set by the UK Gambling Commission. Application fees run from £4,224 to £91,686 and annual fees from £4,199 to £793,729. The top band adds £125,000 for every whole £500 million of yield above £1 billion. Those bands change on 1 October 2026, weighted by licence type rather than applied flat, so check the band that applies to you.

How long does a gambling licence take in Aberdeen and how long is it valid?

An operating licence application takes the UK Gambling Commission about 16 weeks, and that timescale is not guaranteed. A personal management licence takes up to eight weeks where nothing is queried. Premises licence timing turns on whether representations trigger a hearing at Aberdeen City Licensing Board. Validity differs at every layer.

• Operating licence: no fixed term, annual fee due before each anniversary

• Personal licence: no expiry, maintenance five years after the anniversary of first issue

• Premises licence: no fixed term, revoked if the annual fee goes unpaid, and lapsed by the holder's death, incapacity, bankruptcy, liquidation or ceasing to exist

• Club gaming and club machine permits: ten years, renewable

• Licensed premises gaming machine permit: runs with the alcohol licence

• Temporary use notice: 21 days per set of premises in any twelve months

• Occasional use notice: eight days per track in a calendar year

What are the advantages of an Aberdeen gambling licence?

An Aberdeen premises licence places a gambling site inside a mature statutory regime with published decision rules. Great Britain licensing opens legal advertising to British consumers and banking relationships that offshore licensees struggle to get. Premises licence fees sit on a statutory scale, so the cost is known before you apply.

• No renewal cycle on the premises licence itself, so the annual fee keeps it alive

• Fees fixed in regulations rather than set locally, so premises costs are predictable

• Legal access to the British advertising market

• Payment providers and banks treat Great Britain licensing as low friction

• Decision route published in the Aberdeen City Licensing Board statement of principles

What are the limitations of an Aberdeen gambling licence?

Two regulators mean two applications, two evidence packs and two sets of ongoing duties. Beneficial owners face background checks at the UK Gambling Commission. Duty and levy costs on British-facing operators rose sharply in 2026. New casino premises licences are effectively unavailable in Aberdeen.

Remote Gaming Duty rose from 21% to 40% for accounting periods beginning on or after 1 April 2026. A new remote rate of General Betting Duty at 25% starts on 1 April 2027, with remote bets on UK horseracing unchanged. Bingo Duty was repealed from 1 April 2026.

The statutory levy adds a further charge. Rates run from 0.1% to 1.1% under the Gambling Levy Regulations 2025, invoiced annually on 1 September.

New casino premises licences under the Gambling Act 2005 are capped at one regional, eight large and eight small across Great Britain. The 2008 order naming the sixteen authorities that may issue them did not include Aberdeen. Scotland's single slot went to the Wigtown licensing area in Dumfries and Galloway.

Why work with MGL Solutions?

MGL Solutions runs both layers of an Aberdeen application as one project. Our team prepares the UK Gambling Commission operating licence and the personal licences for named individuals. We then handle the premises licence, permit or notice at Aberdeen City Licensing Board. We time the responsible authority notifications so neither track stalls the other.

MGL Solutions has delivered 300+ licences for operators. On Great Britain applications the evidence pack decides the outcome. That means source of funds, corporate control, LCCP-proof policies, and a cost model that survives the 2026 duty and fee changes.

For jurisdiction comparison across our full range, start at our gambling licence hub.