Minister drops plan to raise Lottery age to 18

MINISTERS have abandoned plans to stop children playing the National Lottery, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

But Lottery scratchcards and online games that give instant wins will be banned for under-18s.

Earlier this year, the Government signalled that it would hike the age at which Britons can buy a £2 ticket from the twice-weekly draw to 18.

Minister for Sport and Civil Society, Mims Davies, said: ‘We need to be very clear that gambling starts at 18. It’s not to stop people from having fun, but it’s to protect those most vulnerable people. That’s where the Government needs to step in.’

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport launched a consultation on raising the age that people can take part in the Lottery draw from 16 to 18.

But now Ms Davies has notified the Treasury that her position ‘is to raise the minimum age to 18 for instant win games (scratchcards and online instant win games) and maintain the 16 limit for all drawbased games.’

Having reviewed the evidence, she claimed in a letter to Chancellor Philip Hammond that it was a ‘proportionate and precautionary’ approach to protect under-18s from ‘possible and future harm’.

The changes would come into force in 2023 at the start of the next National Lottery licence.

Businesses will be hit by a £5.4 million fall in revenue from the age being raised, with the Treasury also seeing a £3.8 million reduction in Lottery Duty take.

In the year to March 31, 2019, the Lottery and Lotto scratchcards generated £865million for the public purse, with much of this fed back into good causes. The National Lottery has raised more than £40billion for such causes since launching in 1994.

Last night, Camelot said: ‘We have no issue with a Government review of the age limit for buying National Lottery products and are happy to assist in any way we can to help inform the decision.’

A source close to Ms Davies insisted that scratchcard reform had always been her priority, but furious campaigners blasted the watering down of the plans.

Liz Ritchie, from Gambling With Lives, said: ‘We urge the Government to think again about the low lottery gambling age limit – addiction is more likely the younger gambling starts.’

A 2018 investigation by the Gambling Commission found 55,000 children aged 11-16 were addicted to betting and 450,000 children gambled regularly.