Councillors have unanimously rejected plans for a new gambling venue in Paignton, citing severe risks to vulnerable residents in one of Devon's most deprived areas.
Concerns over under-age gambling and poverty in the town centre were also raised during discussion of the bid to open a new arcade in the town's 'Golden Mile'.
Public health officials advised members of Torbay Council's licensing committee to turn down the application by Hollywood Slots for what would have been the ninth adult gaming centre licence in busy Torbay Road.
Councillors agreed and gave a unanimous thumbs-down to the plan for the former coffee shop at 71 Torbay Road.
They said they accepted the company's experience as an operator and the measures it proposed to promote safe gambling. However, they said they were not satisfied that children and other vulnerable people would be adequately protected from being harmed or exploited.
They also said the company had not addressed Paignton town centre's 'heightened levels of deprivation and vulnerability'.
The company had said it wanted to create a tourist attraction with vintage games including wooden machines costing just 2p a play, and it would support Torbay Council's objectives around gambling.
But in a report to the meeting the council's environmental health team said the centre would have a negative effect on the town. It would add to a cluster of similar venues in the main tourist street.
Torbay already has more adult gaming centres than any other area in Devon, all of them situated in areas of serious deprivation. Only five other councils across the country have more slot and gaming machine outlets per head of population.
Torbay Road is in an area deemed to be among the 10 per cent most deprived in England.
While Hollywood Slots pointed to standard staff training, self-exclusion schemes and successful operations elsewhere, committee members decided these internal measures failed to offset the location's specific risks.
Councillors concluded that introducing a venue of this scale would drastically increase accessibility to gambling for residents already facing deep financial hardship and health inequalities, deciding no additional licence conditions could adequately mitigate the danger.
Paignton’s Golden Mile Arcade Plan Rejected Over Deprivation