🎲 H. B. Leisure Limited

This company is a land‑based gambling and amusement operator that runs arcade and skill‑based games, primarily within theme parks and visitor attractions. It holds an active operating licence from the Gambling Commission in Great Britain and continues to trade as an amusement and skill‑games concession operator. The business traces its origins to 1927 and is described as a third‑generation family enterprise.

The business attributes its founding to Harold Burt, who began with mechanical machine repairs and early seaside arcade operations in the late 1920s. Over subsequent decades it expanded from small seaside arcades into a larger operation supplying and running games and prize concessions. The present corporate entity was incorporated on 1 March 1960 as a private limited company under the name H. B. Leisure Ltd.

The company presents itself as a family‑owned group led by members of the founder’s family. It describes Tim Batstone, a grandson of Harold Burt, as Executive Chairman and as having taken over leadership of the business in 1987, at which point it expanded from a small number of coastal arcades into a wider network of sites and partnerships. Senior management roles reported in corporate materials include a Chief Executive Officer and finance and regional operations executives.

Corporate history published by the business records a rebranding under the HB Leisure name in the early 1990s, followed by its first theme‑park partnerships in that decade. It reports its first overseas operation in Dubai in 1997 and subsequent expansion into multiple international markets through concession agreements with large theme parks and attractions. The company’s own materials highlight a 1996 House of Lords case relating to “trading up” in prize values, which it cites as a significant legal precedent affecting its operations.

The business model described in public materials focuses on operating skill‑based games, prize‑redemption games and family amusement arcades inside third‑party venues. It supplies equipment, staffing and prize stock, typically on a concession or partnership basis with theme‑park and attraction operators. The company reports operations across numerous countries and sites and positions itself within the family entertainment and visitor‑attraction sector rather than remote online gambling.

Licensing and Operations

The company holds a Gambling Commission operating licence in Great Britain. This authorises it to provide specified gambling facilities in accordance with the licence conditions and codes of practice set by the regulator. The public register entry lists the business as active, with an operating licence in force and no recorded trading names on the Gambling Commission register.

As a holder of an operating licence, the company is permitted to offer the licensed forms of gambling and gaming machine activities specified on its licence schedule at approved premises. It appears on the Gambling Commission’s public register with associated licensed premises entries, reflecting the land‑based nature of its operations. The licence status on the register is shown as active, with no indication that the licence has been surrendered, lapsed or revoked.

The Gambling Commission’s public register does not list any alternative or historic statuses for this licence, and there is no indication on the register of a change of corporate licence holder. The company therefore remains the current holder of the operating licence recorded under this account.

Regulatory History

The Gambling Commission public register entry for this operator does not display any published regulatory sanctions, such as financial penalties, licence suspensions or formal warnings. There is no record on the register of a licence revocation or a regulatory settlement.

Publicly available non‑UKGC sources consulted, including company materials and general corporate information services, do not report specific enforcement actions by other gambling regulators in relation to this operator.