The Betting and Gaming Act 1960

The law that turned underground gambling into a legitimate London industry

The Betting and Gaming Act of 1960 was one of the most significant pieces of legislation in the history of British gambling. Before it was passed, almost all forms of commercial gambling were illegal, driving millions of pounds' worth of activity underground and into the hands of criminal gangs who operated outside the law with impunity.

The Act was the product of years of lobbying by reformers who argued that prohibition was not working and that the only sensible policy was regulation. They were right. Within five years of the Act's passage, over 16,000 betting shop licences had been granted by local magistrates, the casino industry had been transformed from a murky backroom operation into a legitimate business, and the Treasury was collecting substantial tax revenues from an industry that had previously contributed nothing to the public purse.

The problem the Act was designed to solve

Before 1960, betting on horses was technically legal if conducted on-course, but off-course cash betting was prohibited. This meant that the millions of working-class Britons who wanted to back a horse could only do so by using illegal street bookmakers, who operated openly in most cities and towns without any meaningful attempt at enforcement.

The same was true of casino gaming. Technically illegal under the Gaming Act of 1845, casino games were nonetheless played openly in private members' clubs throughout London, including in the grand establishment on Curzon Street that would later become Crockfords. The law was a dead letter.

The Royal Commission on Betting, Lotteries and Gaming, which reported in 1951, concluded that the existing law was unenforceable and recommended legalisation with regulation. It took another decade for the government to act on this advice, but when it finally did, the results were transformative.

What the Act actually did

The 1960 Act permitted cash betting in licensed premises, effectively creating the modern betting shop. It also relaxed the law on gaming, allowing games of skill to be played for stakes in licensed clubs. This opened the door for the first wave of legitimate London casinos.

The Act was, however, poorly drafted. It created a loophole that allowed almost any premises to host casino games as long as they were nominally a private members' club. This led to a rapid proliferation of gaming establishments in the early 1960s, not all of which met even the most basic standards of propriety.

John Aspinall, who would go on to found the legendary Clermont Club, was one of the first to exploit this loophole. He had been running illegal Chemmy parties throughout the late 1950s and was perfectly positioned to move into the newly legal market when the Act came into force.

The Gaming Act 1968: closing the loopholes

The explosion of gaming clubs that followed the 1960 Act quickly attracted the attention of organised crime. By the mid-1960s it was clear that the legislation needed to be tightened, and the Gaming Act 1968 was the result. This Act established the Gaming Board for Great Britain, imposed strict licensing requirements on all gaming establishments and effectively ended the era of the pop-up casino.

The 1968 Act transformed the industry. Only establishments that met the Board's stringent requirements could obtain a licence, which meant that the fly-by-night operators were driven out and the serious players – the Gentings, the Hiltons, the Rank Group – moved in. The Mayfair casino scene that we know today is the direct product of this process of consolidation and regulation.