Reed urges gambling controls in Croydon as Lambeth opens door to casino licences

Streatham MP Steve Reed has published a petition urging Croydon Council to block a 24-hour gambling licence for an Admiral Casino site on Westow Hill.

However, the move comes just days before Lambeth’s Licensing Committee is scheduled to remove the borough’s long-standing and highly popular ‘No Casino’ policy, a change that would leave Lambeth able to accept a casino application should a national licence allocation ever become available.

The ‘No Casino’ resolution, adopted as part of Lambeth’s gambling policy framework in 2022, remained in place in the initial draft of the 2025–2028 policy published ahead of the public consultation, which concluded in December 2025.

While responses to the much-criticised consultation showed strong public support for retaining the clause, it was removed in the post-consultation draft, with the text stating only that the resolution would not be “refreshed”.

Support for removing the clause during the consultation came from one gambling industry respondent.

Lambeth Council has not responded to repeated requests from Brixton Buzz asking who recommended the change, on what evidential basis the long-standing resolution was dropped, or why a safeguard retained in the pre-consultation draft was removed after a consultation in which public respondents backed keeping it.

Council audit trail documents show that the future of the ‘No Casino’ clause was first discussed in April 2025 between Cabinet Member for Safer Communities Cllr Mahamed Hashi and Nabeel Khan, then Lambeth’s Corporate Director for Growth and Environment.

At Full Council on 21 January 2026, a motion tabled by the Liberal Democrats and supported by Green Party councillors, described the ‘No Casino’ resolution as the “bedrock” of Lambeth’s public health stance on gambling harm and called for the clause to be retained.

Labour councillors amended and carried their own motion strengthening language around gambling harm and vulnerability, but without renewing the borough’s Section 166 resolution refusing casino licences.

If adopted, Lambeth will remain free of casinos, yet no longer formally opposed to them.

The contrast has prompted accusations of political inconsistency ahead of May’s local elections.

“Steve Reed is campaigning on gambling harm in Croydon while Claire Holland is presiding over the removal of the very clause that keeps casinos out of this borough. Those two positions cannot both be defended.” – Cllr Scott Ainslie, Lambeth’s Green Party leader

Brixton Buzz has submitted a Freedom of Information request seeking clarification on who recommended the removal of the clause, what legal or policy advice was relied upon, and whether any representations were made by gambling industry bodies outside the published consultation responses.

More Info

Gambler’s Anonymous

Contact Samaritans

Gamcare

Break Even

Steve Reed MP’s petition

Reed’s Facebook Post

An update (18.02.26) clarified that the motion on 21.01.26 was tabled by the Liberal Democrats and supported by Green councillors.