Mr. Brian Freney:

The LGAI represents current court certificate holders of gaming licences. Mr. Roche has mentioned that there are different licences in this regard. Some of the 20,000 unlicensed machines referred to last week are operated under an amusement licence. There are two licensing regimes. As pointed out, to obtain a gaming licence one has to go through a strict regulatory process annually. An amusement licence is a little different. It is granted by the Revenue Commissioners and all one needs to obtain such a licence is a tax clearance certificate. There is no mandatory inspection in regard to the number or type of machines held. Some of the 20,000 machines referred to are covered by the amusement licence regime. An issue arises in regard to the siting of machines in takeaways, pubs and so on. This is a serious issue in the context of accountability, tax payments and so on. The machine in question may be of such little value that even if Revenue was to remove or seize it, it could be replaced with another one.

Mr. Roche referred to machines in storage. I have been involved in the industry for 30 years and my father was involved in it before me. I am not aware that there are thousands of machines in storage. In this business people use the machines until they go out of fashion. When they go out of fashion, they are then sold for the best price or thrown in a skip. As I said, there are two types of licence in the industry, an amusement licence and a gaming licence. The difference between the two is huge.