Prize competitions or promotional competitions

Request

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I am requesting the following information:

The number of complaints or enquiries received by the Gambling Commission since January 2020 relating to prize competitions or promotional competitions that were subsequently determined to fall outside the Commission's regulatory remit (i.e. not classified as lotteries under the Gambling Act 2005).

If recorded, a breakdown of: The source of those complaints (e.g. members of the public, Trading Standards, other regulatory bodies).

The general nature of the complaints (e.g. unfairness, misleading advertising, failure to award prize).

Any internal guidance, memos, or communications outlining how the Commission identifies and handles such complaints that fall outside its jurisdiction.

I would prefer the data as a spreadsheet if possible please but I'm happy to accept what's available.

If any part of this request exceeds the cost threshold, please advise what can be provided within the limits.

Response

Thank you for your request which has been processed under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).

In your email you have requested:

1. The number of complaints or enquiries received by the Gambling Commission since January 2020 relating to prize competitions or promotional competitions that were subsequently determined to fall outside the Commission's regulatory remit (i.e. not classified as lotteries under the Gambling Act 2005).

2. If recorded, a breakdown of:

• The source of those complaints (e.g. members of the public, Trading Standards, other regulatory bodies).
• The general nature of the complaints (e.g. unfairness, misleading advertising, failure to award prize).

3. Any internal guidance, memos, or communications outlining how the Commission identifies and handles such complaints that fall outside its jurisdiction.

Firstly, for context, it should be noted that the Gambling Commission is an industry regulator and not an ombudsman. Our role is to consider if a gambling business has breached their licence conditions and we will take regulatory action where appropriate. We do not become involved in or “act upon” individual complaints.

We use evidence from a range of places, including from gambling customers to assist in assessing whether the licensed activities are being carried out in a manner which is inconsistent with the licensing objectives. Information provided to us helps inform our work to raise gambling industry standards and make gambling fairer and safer. Information drawn from complaints raised against operators may be used by the Commission to inform our regulatory approach and determine whether any action may be necessary.

As such, when we receive a complaint, we will create a record within one of several of the Commissions records management systems and record the details provided. Reports we receive in relation to prize competitions have historically been recorded in one of our systems under the category ‘Illegal Lotteries’. However, since August 2024 we have recorded them under their own subject type.

Therefore, we could collate the information from this one system since August 2024 relatively easily. However for the period of January 2020 to August 2024 there are 5600 reports recorded under the ‘illegal lottery’ category. The majority of these reports will not relate to prize competitions. To identify those that relate to prize competitions would require somebody to review each of those 5600 reports, firstly to establish if they relate to prize competitions and then extract the data requested.

Further to this, information within the scope of your request would also be held within the records management system managed by the Gambling Commission Contact Centre, where all incoming correspondence is recorded.

Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) makes provision for public authorities to refuse requests for information where the cost of dealing with them would exceed the appropriate limit, which for public authorities, such as the Commission, is set at £450. This represents the estimated cost of one person spending 18 hours in determining whether the department holds the information, locating, retrieving and extracting the information.   

We estimate, in order to identify, locate and retrieve the information relating to the above request, it would take in excess of 18 hours to determine appropriate material and locate, retrieve and extract any relevant information in reference to your request.

When a public authority applies the Section 12 exemption to a request, the FOIA guidance specifically states that a public authority should avoid providing any information found as a result of a search as it denies the requestor the right to express a preference as to which parts of the request they may wish to receive within the appropriate time limit.

If you are able to refine your request, we may be able to narrow the number of records that we need to search.

Until we are able to process the search of the information you have requested, we are unable to ascertain if other exemptions will apply to any material identified which would also prevent disclosure.

Please note, any refined request would be processed as a new request and the 20 working day statutory time limit would apply. 

Information relating to free draws and prize competitions can be viewed on the Gambling Commission website, which may be of use to you:

Free draws and prize competitions

Review of the decision

If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your Freedom of Information request you are entitled to an internal review of our decision. You should write to FOI Team, Gambling Commission, 4th floor, Victoria Square House, Victoria Square, Birmingham, B2 4BP or by reply to this email. 

Please note, internal review requests should be made within 40 working days of the initial response. Requests made outside this timeframe will not be processed.

If you are not content with the outcome of our review, you may then apply directly to the Information Commissioner (ICO) for a decision. Generally, the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have already exhausted the review procedure provided by the Gambling Commission. 

It should be noted that if you wish to raise a complaint with the ICO about the Commission’s handling of your request for information, then you are required to do so within six weeks of receiving your final response or last substantive contact with us.

The ICO can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office (opens in a new tab), Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.

Information Management Team
Gambling Commission