South Derbyshire gambling centres pass with flying colours thanks to undercover Police Cadets

The Licensing Department at South Derbyshire District Council has been working in partnership with the Police Licensing team and a group of Police Cadets to make sure local gambling and tattoo establishments are refusing access to underage customers.

The initiative took place in June with premises across the district, including adult gaming centres and four tattoo premises.

Police Cadets attempted to place bets/play gaming machines in betting shops and adult gaming centres. A person must be over 18 years to bet and play on category C machines and above. No one under 18 years old is allowed in a betting shop and adult gaming centre.

All of the gambling premises passed with the cadets only barely getting through the door before they were challenged. In one premises, the cadet leader was even asked for ID! Officers do inspect gambling premises every year, but the operators carry out their own test purchases and train their staff and this approach shows it is working.

Of the four tattoo premises, three booked an appointment with the young person without asking for ID. You must be over 18 to have a tattoo. Parents cannot provide parental consent for anyone younger than 18 years old. The fourth premises refused to book an appointment for the cadet for microblading.

Our advice would be for premises to check ID at the appointment stage rather than waiting until the actual appointment to check the ID.

Ardip Sandhu, Executive Director for Law and People for South Derbyshire District Council said: “Our Licensing team works collaboratively with our local businesses to provide lots of support, advice, and guidance. We have a proactive inspection regime and all premises in South Derbyshire are inspected on a three-year rolling programme.

“We are delighted that the adult premises are obviously working hard to stop underage customers from using their premises and it’s good to see spot tests like this are working. There is obviously work to do for our local tattoo premises and we will be continuing to work with them to stop underage customers from attempting to use their services.”

“We must say a huge thank you to the Police and of course, the Police Cadets, without whom the undercover testing couldn’t take place.”

4 August 2025