It means a bingo premises could see its annual licence fee jump by around £75 to £925 with a similar rise for family entertainment centres while betting premises would have to cough up £500 – £50 more than last year.

A report by a senior Scar-borough Council official ad-mits that the administration and enforcement work in-volved in the first year of the new gambling regime had been “more intensive than predicted”. Andy Skelton, the head of environmental services, said the Gambling Act 2005 gave the secretary of state power to make regulations proscribing the maximum fees paid to a local council.

But licensing authorities have the powers to decide their own fees covering casinos, bingo premises, adult gaming centres, betting premises and family entertainment centres.

Last year, the first year of its operation, the fees set were between £100 and £500 lower than the maximum allowed except the fee for a small casino premises licence where the maximum fee was set.

Mr Skelton said: “This was because the fees had to be set on a cost recovery basis only and they were based on an assessment of the workload involved. The experience gained during the first year of the new gambling regime is that the fees should be raised by about nine per cent overall to meet the true cost of service provision. The work involved in administration and enforcement has been more intensive than predicted and the overall number of licences issued was less than predicted.”

The report will be discussed by the council’s licensing committee tomorrow.