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Regulator announces drop in reported underage Lottery play

25/7/2006

REGULATOR ANNOUNCES DROP IN REPORTED UNDERAGE LOTTERY PLAY

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 than 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 (1) 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 (2);

· 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 (3);

· Prevalence of problem gambling (4), 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 (5).

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."

- ENDS –

For further information please contact:

Sarah Hanratty      Head of Comms     +44 (0) 207 016 3430 s.hanratty@natlotcomm.gov.uk
Caroline Thorpe      Comms Officer +44 (0) 207 016 3431 c.thorpe@natlotcomm.gov.uk
George Godsal        Press Office       +44 (0) 207 413 3223 ggodsal@hillandknowlton.com

Notes to editors:

1. A copy of the U16s Research can be found on our website http://www.natlotcomm.gov.uk//CLIENT/content_inner.ASP?ContentId=228

2. A survey of 8,017 young people aged between 12 and 15 years of age was carried out by Ipsos MORI through interviewer administered paper self-completion sessions in classroom lessons between 26th September 2005 and 10th February 2006. This is the same data collection method used in previous studies which were conducted in 2000, 1999 and 1997. When designing this research was agreed that revisions should be made to the previous survey questionnaire in order to reflect changes in the operation of the National Lottery since 2000 and to ensure that the questionnaire was as user-friendly as possible. These changes are specified in Appendix 1. As a result not every question in the 2006 survey is comparable with previous surveys. A detailed note on the survey methodology can be found in the full report, Appendix 1, available on the National Lottery Commission website.

3. The National Lottery Commission is the non-departmental public body set up on 1 April 1999 to regulate the National Lottery. The Commission’s overriding duties under the National Lottery Act as amended are to ensure that the National Lottery is run with all due propriety and that the interests of players are protected. Subject to these, to maximise the money raised for good causes.

Footnotes:

(1). Gambling activities surveyed by Ipsos MORI included National Lottery games (Lotto, Scratchcards, Interactive Instant Win Games, and ‘other’ draw games; Thunderball, Lotto HotPicks, EuroMillions, Lotto Extra and Daily Play), and other activities including fruit machines, Bingo, placing bets at a betting shop, placing a private bet for money, and any other gambling activities, such as online gambling.
(2). The ‘National Lottery draw games’ category included the main National Lottery draw in 2000; in 2005-06, to reflect changes in the National Lottery over time, it included Lotto (the main NL draw), Thunderball, Lotto Extra, Lotto HotPicks, Daily Play, and EuroMillions.
(3). Please note that, in the 2005-06 survey, ‘Scratchcard’ referred to all Scratchcards (National Lottery and other Scratchcards): in the 2000 survey National Lottery and other Scratchcards were asked about separately. The data presented here for 2000 is based on the combined Scratchcard data.
(4). In 1997, 1999 and 2000 a Problem/ Social Gambling Screen was derived for National Lottery Scratchcards and fruit machines. There are nine components to this Screen covering different behaviours indicative of problem gambling, e.g. preoccupation with gambling, needing to gamble with increasing amounts of money, etc. The same screen was applied to the 2005-06 data to identify problem and social gamblers.
(5). In 2004 NCH, the children’s charity, and GamCare tested 37 interactive gambling sites to test whether underage players were able to register. The National Lottery website was one of only two that successfully blocked the attempt to register someone under the age of 16.

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