The main regulator of the UK gambling industry – the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) – have introduced new requirements for lottery operators that offer their products and services on the territory of the country. The gambling regulatory body has decided to raise the standards for society lottery operators, by the introduction of new codes in order to make it clearer for consumers where funds that have been raised from sales of lottery ticket are directed to.
The new codes are to come into effect on April 4th, 2018. So, from then on, all lotteries that operate in the UK will be required to make it clear to customers before the latter purchase a lottery ticket which society or charity organisation is to receive the funds raised as a result of the sales. In addition, all lottery operators will have to publish what amount of the money gathered from lottery ticket sales over the previous year was directly returned for purposes of local communities.
Sarah Gardner, Executive Director for Lotteries at the UKGC, commented on the regulator’s decision, saying that the watchdog wanted to make sure UK players were aware of all the details so that they were able to make informed choices about their gambling. Ms. Gardner also revealed that as long as lotteries are concerned, players were motivated by various factors, and especially by the change to make a contribution to good causes.
According to UKGC’s Executive Director of Lotteries, the regulatory approach of the Commission gives players an important part in its overall strategy to ensure a safe, fair and transparent gambling environment to customer.
UKGC Society Lottery Codes of Practice Consultation
The new requirements for local lotteries come after a consultation on new codes that would make some aspects of lottery operations in the country more transparent to players. The new codes’ consultation was carried out for society and local authority lottery operators and external lottery managers (ELMs) from July 20th to September 30th, 2017.
The consultation, which is now closed, was aimed to et out the UK Gambling Commission’s intent to roll out new codes of practice concerning society and local authority lottery operators, as well as external lottery managers in order for them to improve the transparency for local customers. In addition, the consultation of the watchdog was aimed at making instant-win and low-frequency lotteries more clear to customers.
As explained by the UK gambling regulatory body at the time it released its consultation, the Commission is to require from lottery operators to clearly state the society or charity they direct the lottery tickets sales’ proceeds to. As mentioned above, there is to be requirement for lottery operators to publish the proportion of money they made from lottery ticket sales in the previous year and was directly brought back for society purposes.
The UK Gambling Commission revealed that a total of 27 responses to the consultation were received. At the time it made its decision for the new social responsibility code provisions’ implementation and published its consultation response, the regulator had taken all the responses into consideration. Now, it remains focused on keeping the gambling activities carried out in the UK open, fair and transparent to participants.
