Licence applicants and National Lottery vetting
When we receive an application for a licence for a business, for a personal licence via application online, or carry out vetting processes for 'vetted roles' in relation to the National Lottery, we create or update the information we hold about that person on our systems. We use that data to decide whether to approve the application and issue the licence.
The provision of data for the purposes of licence applications and vetting processes is required by law. Failure to provide the information requested constitutes an offence under the Gambling Act and will lead to the application being refused. The provision of data for the purpose of vetting procedures is required by law under the National Lottery etc. Act 1993. If we find that any individual does not meet the necessary standards required by law, they may not be employed in a vetted role. It is also vital, of course, that care is taken to ensure that the information supplied is accurate (including in the period between the submission of the application and the date of the decision). If this is not done, there is a possibility that the licence subsequently issued may be reviewed and potentially revoked.
We are also required to conduct ‘suitability assessments’ as part of the licensing process. For this purpose, we will obtain personal data relating to applicants from third parties such as Disclosure and Barring Service/Disclosure Scotland, CreditSafe and Experian. Obtaining data from third parties is explained further below.
The licensing objectives under the Gambling Act are:
- preventing gambling from being a source of crime and disorder, being associated with crime or disorder or being used to support crime
- ensuring that gambling is conducted in a fair and open way
- protecting children and other vulnerable people from being harmed or exploited by gambling.
Therefore, our collection of personal data for licensing purposes may also be used to:
- comply with our statutory function and legal obligations
- inform our regulatory work in accordance with these objectives – including investigations and enforcement
- assist other regulators or law enforcement agencies
- check our level of service and to help us improve things where we can
- conduct research/ collate statistics for publication and/or for the purposes of formulation of policy. Although, in this case, the persons’ data will not identify individuals (in other words, it will be anonymised).
Fourth National Lottery Licence
Under the National Lottery Act 1993 (“the Act”), The Gambling Commission has overriding statutory duties to ensure that the National Lottery is run with all due propriety, and that the interests of all participants are protected.
It is the responsibility of the Licensee to ensure that any person who benefits from, or is involved in, the management or activities of the National Lottery, meets the Fit and Proper Requirements of the Licence.
The Licensee is required to provide requested information to the Commission for every identified Lottery Supervisor or Lottery Beneficiary to perform fit and proper checks, as well as information for any Critical Function Employee, should the Commission require it.
The Commission has engaged the services of Verifile Limited (Verifile) to undertake Fit and Proper Checks.
Verifile checks examine the identity, integrity, criminality, and financial integrity of persons requiring those fit and proper checks and produces a final report that is provided to the Commission to assess whether they meet the fit and proper requirements. The Commission will retain this report in line with Commission’s retention schedule.
Additional checks will be undertaken for Lottery Beneficiaries, whereby the Commission will use the United Kingdom (UK) Government’s National Security Vetting provider. Information pertaining to the checks will be held by the Commission in line with the Commission’s retention schedule. For further information, refer to the National Lottery Fourth Licence.
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People who already hold an operating and or personal licence
Last updated: 1 February 2024
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Updated content in line with upcoming Fourth National Lottery Licence.