Lotteries Regulation — House of Lords, 2019-07-16
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Thomas Ashton (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, with the leave of the House I shall repeat a Statement made in another place earlier today by Mims Davies, my honourable friend the Minister for Sport and—oh, I cannot remember what her title is. I am going to be in trouble now. The Statement is as follows: "Mr Speaker, with permission, I would like to make a Statement in relation to lotteries. The National Lottery and society lotteries contribute around £2 billion a year to good causes in this country, forming the backbone of giving across the UK. As preparations start on the competition for the next licence to run the National Lottery, it is important that we ensure that the wider lotteries landscape is fit for the future and allows as much money as possible to be raised for good causes within a suitable framework. To ensure clarity ahead of the upcoming fourth licence competition, I am today announcing next steps on society lotteries, and launching a consultation on increasing the age limit for playing the National Lottery Turning to society lotteries, first, in June last year, the Government launched a consultation seeking views on proposals to reform the existing limits on society lotteries, which have not been raised for more than a decade. I am aware that there has been strong support from across this House for the Government to increase the sales and prize limits for society lotteries and that changes have taken a long time to come. Society lotteries are a vital source of funds for charities and other non-commercial organisations, and in 2018 alone raised more than £300 million. As not just the Minister for Lotteries but the Charities Minister, I want to support the third sector and grow the overall pie for everybody’s benefit. I am aware that society lotteries are a vital funding mechanism for hundreds of charities in many of our local communities, including air ambulances and local hospices The consultation aims to ensure that both society lotteries and the National Lottery are able to thrive and that society lotteries can continue to grow, while maintaining the unique position of the National Lottery and its ability to raise funds across the country by offering the largest jackpots. We heard strong arguments from both sectors, and I am grateful to everyone who shared their views. In coming to a final decision I have balanced needs across the sector to ensure that returns to good causes can grow overall I am pleased to announce that I will raise the per-draw sales limit from £4 million to £5 million and the maximum prize limit from £400,000 to £500,000 for large society lotteries. These increases will allow for significant headroom for most of the sector to continue to grow, and I am pleased that the Gambling Commission has agreed carefully to monitor these changes for any potential wider impact. This will enable us to analyse the impact of the changes over time In addition, I will raise the annual sales limit from £10 million to £50 million. In recent years we have seen charities forced to slow their fundraising from lotteries as a result of the current limits or to adopt costly alternative structures to avoid breaching them, increasing admin costs and diverting money away from good causes. Indeed, one charity told us that introducing such arrangements could cost £345,000, with further additional running costs of more than £100,000 per year. A £50 million annual limit will reduce or prevent administrative burdens for society lotteries, and I fully expect to see an equivalent increase when it comes to the amount of money directed to good causes as a result of the lower admin costs and this increase. I will be watching this closely I am aware that many Members support an even higher annual limit of £100 million. I too share this ambition. However, this is a significant increase and I want to be certain that moving to this much higher limit will in reality increase returns to good causes across the sector. I want to be assured that there is an appropriate regulatory regime in place. It is therefore my aim to launch a further consultation, looking at an additional tier of licence, with suitable additional requirements for those very largest lotteries It is also important that society lotteries demonstrate the highest levels of transparency. I am therefore pleased that the Gambling Commission is also planning to consult on measures to tighten the existing licensing framework for all large society lotteries, looking in particular at the information provided to players on how the proceeds of society lotteries are used and the good causes which benefit. We will also be looking to consider further how best to increase transparency in relation to executive pay and will seek further advice from the Gambling Commission. I will look to legislate, if necessary, if these measures do not go far enough Turning to small society lotteries, there was less support for changing the limits. Having considered the evidence carefully, I do not plan to increase these limits at this time I have previously committed to laying Camelot’s response to the society lotteries consultation in the Library and will also lay the other key responses that my department received Today, I am also announcing a 12-week consultation on the minimum age for playing National Lottery games. The current licence period has seen a range of technological developments which have changed how we play the National Lottery, and changes in people’s gambling behaviours. Therefore, as we fully consider what the fourth licence might look like, I believe it is right to consider whether it remains appropriate to sell all National Lottery games to those under 18 as part of future-proofing it for the duration of the next licence Eighteen is widely recognised as the age at which one becomes an adult, gaining full citizenship rights and responsibilities. At present, all lotteries can be played from 16, one of the few exceptions to the age limit of 18 for gambling products. In addition to the option to raise the minimum age to 18 for all National Lottery games and retain the current limit of 16, I am seeking views on a differentiated approach that would increase the minimum age for instant-win games only. This includes scratchcards and online instant-win games My initial view, based on the evidence reviewed so far, is that such a split could be the best approach. This takes into account that the risks of harm associated with playing the National Lottery are the lowest of any form of gambling, but we know that the risk of harm is slightly higher for instant-win games than for draw-based games such as lotto. Given that the National Lottery matters so much to so many people, I am keen to see further evidence in this area and to hear what others think, including hearing from operators, distributors and retailers about any potential impacts and benefits of any change This year the National Lottery celebrates its 25th birthday and Mystic Meg herself could not have predicted how successful it has been in that time, raising over £40 billion to support our local communities, protect heritage, enhance the arts and transform funding across sport. The National Lottery has been at the very heart of creating, protecting and driving much of what we love. Each week it raises around £30 million for good causes. Since 1992, it has funded over 4,000 world-class UK Paralympians and Olympians. Each year it invests around £325 million in protecting some of our most prized national heritage, and it has funded the development of our artistic talent and access to art. It has ensured access to sporting opportunities for people in all communities and, alongside all this, it supports over 10,000 charitable causes each year with over £500 million of funding. I thank National Lottery players, the 12 distributors, the Gambling Commission and my department for making this possible Importantly, the announcements that I have made today both give clarity to those interested in running our National Lottery when the current licence expires in four years’ time, and provide society lotteries with the greater capacity to continue and increase their work across many colleagues’ constituencies. I look forward to seeing the real benefits that these changes will have for the charities and good causes supported by our lotteries across the UK. I commend this Statement to the House".