This will include the closure of all casinos, betting shops, gaming arcades and bingo halls across England.
Great Britain entered its lockdown on 23 March and most restrictions remained in place until the start of June. Betting shops in England began to reopen on 15 June, followed by bingo halls from 4 July and finally casinos in mid-August.
The government had previously stated it would not impose a second lockdown across the entire country. It had planned to instead continue to focus on its tiered, regional approach, whereby certain areas of England with very high rates of COVID-19 would be locked down before its U-turn.
The top tier of the three-tier system – which included gambling venues having to close – had already been introduced in a number of regions, including Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Lancashire and South Yorkshire.
Wales had already introduced a short ‘firebreak’ lockdown, which began on 23 October and is due to run until 9 November. This has seen all gambling venues in country temporarily close.
Scotland is yet to announce a second nationwide lockdown, but has implemented a five-level system similar to the English tiered system, which has seen gambling venues close in the areas classed as the most high risk.
Land-based gambling venues in Northern Ireland currently remain open, though venues in the Republic of Ireland are closed until at least 2 December.
France, Germany, Italy, Belgium and the Czech Republic are among the other countries in Europe to have imposed nationwide lockdowns in the past few weeks due to a second wave of COVID-19 across Europe.
Britain-facing industry group Betting and Gaming Council had previously urged the government not to force gambling venues to close as part of its coronavirus measures, saying it could lead to mass job losses in the industry.
Last month, its chief executive Michael Dugher wrote to Business Secretary Alok Sharma calling on him to block the closures, but to no avail as the government continued with its regional lockdown approach.
Source: iGB
