Government launches consultation on raising National Lottery age limit
16 July 2019 (updated on 16 July 2019)
The Government has made a statement on lottery regulation, setting out next steps on society lotteries and the launching of a consultation on increasing the age limit for playing the National Lottery.
- Watch Parliament TV: statement on lottery regulation
- Read Commons Hansard: lottery regulation
- Find out how the Gambling Commission regulates the lottery [external]
Mims Davies, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport addressed the Chamber, saying;
"Society lotteries are a vital funding mechanism for thousands of charities in many of our local communities... The consultation aims to ensure that both society lotteries and the national lottery are able to thrive."
Mims Davies went on to discuss the many societal improvements that the charities and good causes supported by the national lottery have made.
The statement was responded to by the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, Tom Watson. He asked the Government when the new regulations will come into force and what effect he thought the changes to regulations would have to the charitable causes supported by the national lottery. He went on to say;
"In my view, and in the Labour Party's view, there is absolutely no need for a consultation on this topic [raising the age to participate in the national lottery]… to gamble, you should be an adult."
Image: Marco Verch via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
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