Debate contribution: The Gaming (Variation of Monetary Limits) Order (Northern Ireland) 2025
Debate contribution by Mr Gordon Lyons on .
- MLA
- Mr Gordon Lyons
- Party at the time
- Democratic Unionist Party
- Date
- 28 January 2025
- Type
- Debate contribution (made as a minister)
- Business
- Executive Committee Business
- Heading
- The Gaming (Variation of Monetary Limits) Order (Northern Ireland) 2025
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4763816
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I beg to move
The order was laid before the Assembly on 13 January and is subject to the affirmative resolution procedure. The order is made under the Betting, Gaming, Lotteries and Amusements (Northern Ireland) Order 1985. I thank the Communities Committee for its scrutiny of the policy and the order. The Gaming (Variation of Monetary Limits) Order increases the maximum permitted stakes and prizes for playing bingo at a bingo club and for playing adult-only gaming machines at those premises where they are allowed. The increases were agreed in principle during the previous Assembly mandate. I understand that agreement then was on the condition that the parent legislation — the Betting, Gaming, Lotteries and Amusements (Northern Ireland) Order 1985 — was amended to ensure that limits could be set at different levels for different premises; for example, at a lower level for premises where alcohol is being sold. That amendment to the primary legislation was made at the end of the previous mandate. The previously agreed increases for gaming and bingo clubs, and for machine gaming in permitted locations, is now reflected in the order. It is important to note that the increases will apply only to higher-limit gaming — in short, gaming in which only people aged 18 and over are permitted to take part. I will describe each of the increases in turn. I will begin with non-machine gaming at bingo clubs. The order, if affirmed, will increase the maximum amount that may be paid by any one person for any one chance to win a bingo prize from 50p to £1; increase the maximum total amount of sales that a club may take in any game from £120 to £500; increase the maximum single money prize that can be paid or offered to any winner from £25 to £100; and increase the maximum total amount or value of the prizes allowed in any one game from £120 to £500. If the order is affirmed, it will increase the maximum permitted charge for playing one game on a gaming machine at a registered club from 50p to £2. It will increase the maximum charge for playing any one game on a gaming machine that is installed in a licensed premises — for example, a pub — from 30p to £2, and it will increase the maximum charge for playing any one game on a gaming machine installed at a bingo club premises, licensed office, which is a bookie's office, or a premises that has an amusement permit in force, which is an amusement arcade, from 30p to £2. It will increase the maximum pay-out prize in any one game played on a gaming machine in a premises that is licensed to sell alcohol from £25 to £100, and it will increase the maximum pay-out prize in any one game played on a gaming machine in a bingo club premises, licensed office or premises that have an amusement permit in force from £25 to £500. The only previously agreed provision that is not included in the order is the proposal to increase the maximum pay-out prize in any one game that is played on a gaming machine in a registered club. During the previous mandate, it was agreed in principle that the present prize limit should be raised from £250 to £400. That increase can only be made by regulation, and it is subject to the negative resolution procedure rather than the affirmative resolution procedure. Therefore, should the Assembly affirm the order today, I will immediately arrange to make and lay a regulation to allow that change to take place. The increases that the Assembly is being asked to affirm today deliver on the intention of the previous Assembly, which did not have time available to do this during its mandate. They bring Northern Ireland land-based gaming stakes and prize limits into line with those in the rest of the UK. In Great Britain, those land-based limits have been in place for six years. Their introduction was welcomed at the time by those on all sides of the gambling debates, and, so far, there has been no turning back on that. I believe that that will be the case in Northern Ireland as well.
706 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not flagged”.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.02 (flagging needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not flagged).
- None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
- No identity-based framing was identified (1.00).
- The overall probability was at or below the not-flagging threshold.
This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.
Jev’s structured answers
| Question | Probability | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Identity framing | 0.02 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.01 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.01 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.02 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.02 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.58 | No |
| Overall judgement | 0.02 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 1.00 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.00 |
| Adopts it | 0.00 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-related subject | 0.81 |
| Sexism, misogyny, ageism and other equality groups | 0.19 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 0.00 |
| Irish language, Ulster-Scots and language policy | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:53 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
Disagree with this assessment?
Classifications can be challenged. A person reads every challenge, and any change is recorded publicly above with its reason.