Consultation response
Consultation on society lottery reform - responses
Consultation on society lottery reform - responses - April 2020
Consultation proposals and background
Amending the limits
In June 2018 the Government published a consultation on society lottery reform, seeking views on potential changes to sales and prize limits for large and small society lotteries. In July 2019, they announced the intention to amend section 99 (3) (opens in a new tab) of the Gambling Act 2005 to raise the per draw limit on lottery proceeds (ticket sales) from £4 million to £5 million, with the result that the maximum individual prize will raise from £400,000 to £500,000. In addition, the annual aggregate proceeds limit would rise from £10 million to £50 million.
The Gambling Commission (the Commission) is required by section 99 of the Act to attach conditions to lottery operating licences for the purposes of achieving the requirements of section 99. In December 2019 we published a consultation proposing to amend Licence Condition 11 to reflect the changes to the limits for per draw and annual proceeds limits, as well as the limits to individual prizes, that were being introduced in the Act. The consultation closed on 12 March 2020.
Information for consumers
Over the course of the broader review of society lottery regulations concerns about the transparency of society lotteries were raised, particularly about the lack of transparency in relation to odds of winning a prize, how much of the money raised through ticket sales goes to good causes and which good causes are supported. We consider more could be done to achieve this, specifically, consumers should be able to make informed choices about their gambling and the wider public should have a well-informed view of how lotteries contribute to society. This is consistent with our Strategy 2018-21, which includes the priority of protecting the interests of consumers.
Over the course of the broader review of society lottery regulations concerns about the transparency of society lotteries were raised, particularly about the lack of transparency in relation to odds of winning a prize, how much of the money raised through ticket sales goes to good causes and which good causes are supported. We consider more could be done to achieve this, specifically, consumers should be able to make informed choices about their gambling and the wider public should have a well-informed view of how lotteries contribute to society. This is consistent with our Strategy 2018-21, which includes the priority of protecting the interests of consumers.
We want licensees to make information about their lotteries more accessible and more meaningful for consumers to help them understand their gambling choices at an individual level.
We received 83 written responses to the consultation from the following categories of respondents:
- 59 from licence holders
- 4 from trade associations
- 2 from charitable organisations
- 6 from members of the public
- 12 from others
Some responses included comments and proposals around measures either outside of the scope of this consultation, or that are outside the remit of the Gambling Commission to implement. Where proposals would be a matter for the Government to implement through legislative powers, we will forward these to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). We provide no commentary on these aspects as they do not form part of the proposals being consulted on.
A summary of the responses we received to the consultation questions, along with the Commission’s position in view of those responses, is provided on the following pages.
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Last updated: 12 April 2021
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