News
Under 16s and the National Lottery
25 July 2006
Latest independent research published today by the National Lottery Commission (NLC) confirms that today’s 12 -15 year olds say they are considerably less likely to play National Lottery games then their year 2000 counterparts.
The research, Under 16s and the National Lottery, was commissioned by the NLC and conducted by Ipsos MORI and the International Gaming Research Unit (Nottingham Trent University) to check the effectiveness of controls to prevent Under 16s from playing the National Lottery.
Over 8000 young people aged 12-15 years were surveyed between September 2005 and February 2006. The survey found that reported gambling among this age group has declined across the board. Lottery play in particular has reduced substantially and the main findings are:
> Underage participation in Lotto (the main National Lottery draw) has more than halved since the 2000 survey - now just one in seven young people (16%) report having ever played Lotto in their lifetimes, compared with over one in three (34%) in the 2000 survey;
> Only one in eight young people (12%) report that they have played a National Lottery draw game in the past year compared to over a quarter (26%) in 2000;
> Combined data indicates there is a substantial fall in those who have played Scratchcards in their lifetime - 28% of young people in 2005/6 compared with 63% in 2000;
> Prevalence of problem gambling, and the characteristics and behaviours associated with it, has decreased significantly since the previous survey took place in 2000 (4.9%) to 2006 (3.5%).
> Online products have been launched since the 2000 survey, but only a very small proportion of young people (0.3%) claim to have played National Lottery games on the Internet independently and for money, reflecting the rigorous security settings to prevent access by underage players. The National Lottery website has received GamCare accreditation.
Anne Wright, Chair of the National Lottery Commission, said:
"We take the prevention of underage play on the National Lottery very seriously, and are encouraged that reported underage participation in the National Lottery has significantly decreased. Our role as regulator is to make sure it is as hard as possible for under 16s to play the National Lottery and to ensure the operator’s controls are effective."
The National Lottery Commission has overseen the introduction of a range of measures by the Lottery operator since 2000 to prevent underage participation in the National Lottery. These include agreed advertising codes; strict controls over all interactive games; a game design protocol to ensure that games will not appeal to under 16s; an education and testing programme for retailers; and a continuous programme of research and education.
Report co-authors, Professor Mark Griffiths and Dr Richard Wood of Nottingham Trent University, said:
"We welcome the opportunity to get involved in important research such as this and it is encouraging to see declining rates of underage gambling, which is significantly reduced for the National Lottery.
A problem gambling element remains across the whole industry, which still requires attention, but it is evident that the preventative measures enforced by the regulator of the National Lottery are working to reduce underage play."
For a full copy of the report click here
For more information on the National Lottery Commission visit them here