The Bill will also establish a new regulator – the Gambling Commission – which will police casinos, bingo halls, gambling web sites and bookmakers. Backed up by new powers it will ensure gambling is socially responsible, fair and crime free.
Age checks will be compulsory for gambling web sites operating from the UK – and these will be backed by "mystery shopper" surveys from the Commission.
Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Tessa Jowell said:
"It is nearly forty years since Parliament last had the opportunity to take a serious look at our gambling laws and it's not just attitudes that have changed since then. The technological revolution has touched all our lives and the gambling industry is no exception.
"Internet gambling and roulette machines in bookmakers are just two examples of where laws introduced nearly 10 years before the first home computer hit the shelves are no longer able to protect children or vulnerable people properly.
"In the face of this, new protections are vital. Levels of problem gambling are low in Britain and I am totally committed to keeping it that way. That's why the Bill is so important. With a powerful new Gambling Commission policing these rules I'm confident the UK will become the safest gambling environment in the world."
Other key points in the Bill, highlighted in the Government's statement, include:
A new Gambling Commission with new powers to investigate, prosecute, enter premises, seize goods, void bets, levy unlimited fines and remove gambling licenses;
Reducing the opportunities for children to gamble by removing fruit machines from over 6,000 take-aways and mini-cab offices;
A new criminal offence of inviting, permitting or causing a child to gamble;
Powers for local authorities to resolve not to allow new casinos in their area;
Local authorities to license gambling premises, enabling local communities to have their say;
New powers to control or remove entitlements to roulette machines in bookmakers if there is evidence they are driving problem gambling;
Prevalence studies every three years by the Gambling Commission to monitor levels of problem gambling;
An industry funded trust of at least £3 million a year to pay for research into the causes of problem gambling and effective treatment methods;
New controls on the way gaming machines operate that will enable the Gambling Commission to control elements such as speed of play, near misses and making information on losses clearer to players;
Controls on the numbers and locations of new, high prize gaming machines so that they will only be allowed in the largest, regional casinos and their numbers will be capped to 1,250 per casino;
Minimum size restrictions on new casinos will mean people won't wake up one day and find that their local shop has become a casino;
Powers to void unfair bets and a tailored approach to regulating betting exchanges will make cheating much harder; and
Social responsibility will be an explicit licence condition, with breaches triggering penalties including unlimited fines or even loss of licence.
The Gambling Bill will also lift some out of date restrictions on casinos and bingo halls, allowing them greater commercial freedom, providing they act in a socially responsible way.
These include:
Removing the '24 hour' rule that means people must be a member of a casino or bingo club for 24 hours before they enter;
Removing of the permitted areas rule that defines in law strict areas where casinos can be built; and
Allowing casinos to advertise in a limited way for this first time.
John Carr, Director of the Children and Technology unit at the National Children's Home said:
"Our survey in July exposed just how easy it is for children to register and gamble on-line. The gambling industry as a whole has evidently not been able to sort itself out voluntarily so clearly we need tough new rules to force the pace. We are greatly encouraged to see the Government taking this issue seriously in the Gambling Bill. It brings in a number of vitally important and new protections for children, creating new obligations on companies to do everything they can to stop children gambling on-line."