Delay over raising minimum age for buying National Lottery tickets is branded ‘farcical’ by MPs
- Children can spend up to £350 a week gambling on fixed odds games online
- In July a group of peers issued a report calling for the age limit to be raised to 18
- Camelot said it will take nine months to roll the changes out across the shops
Furious MPs yesterday said it was ‘farcical’ that it will take ten months to raise the minimum age for children to gamble on the National Lottery from 16 to 18.
Currently, children can buy scratchcards in shops and spend up to £350 a week gambling on fixed odds games online.
Ministers announced the minimum age for players will go up from 16 to 18 – but gave Camelot, which runs the lottery, up to ten months to implement the changes.
Children can spend up to £350 a week gambling on fixed odds games online
The announcement coincided with a government review of gambling legislation.
Tory MP Richard Holden, who campaigned for the age change, said: ‘This extra delay means that thousands of vulnerable youngsters will be exposed to unlimited instant win gambling via scratchcards.’
Labour MP Carolyn Harris, chairman of the all-party parliamentary group for gambling, said she was pleased with the change but added: ‘Camelot should act now.’
Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said: ‘This isn’t about any delay, it is a necessary implementation period.’
Tory MP Richard Holden, who campaigned for the age change, said the delay means that thousands of vulnerable youngsters will be exposed to unlimited instant win gambling
He added: ‘Camelot has to change the terms and conditions, the actual ticket slip, and then they have got to roll out all the small retailers.’
Camelot said: ‘We’ll be doing everything we can to implement all of the changes that will be necessary as quickly as possible, while ensuring that we maintain the very high standards demanded of The National Lottery.
Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden
‘We’ve already started this work in preparation and we’re aiming to complete all of the changes that are needed in our online channels by early April 2021 and, in our retail channel, over the course of the summer – well in advance of the change in law.’
The delay in making a decision to raise the age limit, which came after a review which finished in October 2019, had already sparked frustration.
In July a group of peers released a report into gambling that called for the age limit to be raised to 18 for all National Lottery products.
Camelot, which did not oppose the move, said it will take nine months to roll the changes out across the 44,000 shops who sell scratchcards.
The changes will come into force on its website in ‘early April’, it said, and bosses hope to push the changes through in shops ‘over the course of the summer’.