Scotland’s Court of Session has refused to allow national turf accountant William Hill to open near a betting shop operated by its rival, Ladbrokes.
At a time when the UK government is attempting to relax restrictions on casinos, three appeal judges upheld arguments by Ladbrokes that the Glasgow Licensing Board had been entitled to reject William Hill’s application for a betting office licence on the basis that the area already had sufficient betting shops.
Lord Osbourne said that the board did not have to identify any particular disadvantage that the grant of another licence might cause.
The licensing board refused William Hill’s October 2002 application in respect of premises in Paisley Road West on the basis that the number of existing betting shops in the area, including shops operated by Ladbrokes and Coral (Racing), was sufficient to meet demand.
The Ladbrokes and Coral offices were only 200m and 105m respectively from the premises proposed by William Hill.
In its appeal to Scotland’s highest civil court, William Hill claimed that the licensing board had been required to assess the extent to which existing offices were meeting demand, as well as to determine whether the locality would suffer some fundamental disadvantage following the opening of another betting shop.
However, Lord Osbourne accepted Ladbrokes’ position, saying that the board had been entitled to conclude that “although there was a substantial level of demand in the locality for betting office facilities, with indications that this demand had increased, the existing two betting offices in that locality were at the present time adequately catering for that demand”.
Gary Moffat, a partner in commercial law firm Burness, which acted on behalf of Ladbrokes, said: “This decision has brought to an end a long-running legal controversy over the factors that a local authority are entitled to consider when dealing with an application for a betting office licence.
“It also ensured that a rival operator cannot open a betting shop in the vicinity of one of the betting shops of Ladbrokes.”
William Hill Organisation Ltd v City Of Glasgow Licensing Board and others Court of Session (Lord MacLean, Lord Osborne and Lord Kingarth) 16 November 2004.
References: EGi Legal News 17/12/04