Consultation on the minimum age for playing National Lottery games
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This document is the governments response to the consultation on the minimum age to play National Lottery games.
Original consultation
Consultation description
This consultation considers changes to the minimum age for playing the National Lottery ahead of the competition to run the 4th National Lottery licence.
Since the award of the third National Lottery licence in 2009, there have been changes to the landscape in which the National Lottery sits. There has been a significant growth in online gambling in general and major new online and mobile platforms have changed the way many players interact with the National Lottery games.
In addition to technological changes, the instant win games such as scratchcards are making up an increased proportion of National Lottery sales. This has raised the question whether the availability of all National Lottery games to those under 18 remains appropriate.
We are consulting on 3 options:
- Option 1 - Do nothing, retain the minimum age of 16 for all National Lottery games
- Option 2 - Raise the minimum age to 18 for National Lottery instant win games (i.e. scratchcards and online instant win games)
- Option 3 - Raise the minimum age to 18 for all National Lottery games
We welcome all views on the options set out.
Documents
Updates to this page
Published 16 July 2019Last updated 8 December 2020 + show all updates
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Government response to the consultation on the minimum age to play National Lottery games.
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First published.