The push against gambling ads in public has once again ended up on London’s local councils’ agenda, with Hackney the latest to join the efforts.

Hackney was among five other local authorities recently named as the latest joiners of the Coalition to End Gambling Ads (CEGA). As the name suggests, the group advocates for a very particular cause.

However, unlike London’s Barnet, Brent, Enfield, and Lewisham councils, Hackney is just catching up with what has been a months-long coordinated criticism of the amount of public gambling ads and high street gambling venues spanning across the UK’s capital.

Hackney newbie among veterans

Unlike Hackney, the four other mentioned councils were co-signees of a campaign launched earlier in April requesting more powers for local authorities, with a total of 38 signatures demanding direct control over venue planning permits and gambling ad placements.

Brent in particular has been very active on the advertising front, with the council both leading the April campaign and later commissioning its own studies into gambling harm in an effort to try and sway Labour’s stance on the matter.

It’s worth noting that Brent currently has 77 licensed high street betting permits, the same as Enfield, followed by fellow CEGA member Haringey with 63, Barnet with 61, Lewisham currently at 53 high street venues, and Hackney looking at 43 concurrent premises.

Are demands justified?

The main argument most often heard from the councils is that there is a proliferation of high street betting shops, but the fact is that official statistics from the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) say otherwise.

In its latest industry size report, the regulator clearly shows that compared to the 8,872 betting premises licensed in 2009, that number has fallen to 5,825 in the first three months of 2025.

Although retail gambling got off comparatively light compared to its online counterparts, experts predict even further betting shop closures in light of the heightened gambling taxes introduced in the new UK Budget.

The close collaboration between local authorities and the UKGC already in place should also not be ignored, with Ian Angus, the regulator’s Director of Policy, being quick to point that out in one of his latest speeches.

“The Gambling Act 2005 gave powers to both the Commission and local authorities to license operators, to levy fees and have significant enforcement powers,” Angus said at the Institute of Licensing Conference last week.

“We work with many local authorities, year in and year out on how to regulate gambling on the ground, on joint efforts to gather data, protect the vulnerable from harm and to share intelligence.

“The UKGC is an evidence based regulator – we are continually striving to improve the evidence base around gambling in Great Britain. And one valuable resource we have are the Licensing Authority Returns.

“This year we received returns from 329 authorities…that’s an incredible 94 per cent response rate. A response rate that helps our work and in turn helps us work better with local authorities.”

The central government itself is also proactively looking for ways to increase local authorities’ powers already, with the Department of Culture, Media and Sports (DCMS) committing to give them a legislative vehicle that would unlock cumulative impact assessments with respect to gambling licensing.

So it seems that everything is already aligned with the interests of the local authorities.

That is, of course, unless the end goal here is to fully eradicate betting on the high street and with that not only voluntary let the black market in and throw all player protections out the window, but also meddle with how the taxpayer chooses to spend their own hard earned cash.