GAM0012

Written evidence submitted by People’s Postcode Lottery

1.       People’s Postcode Lottery is a not for commercial gain external lottery manager that exists purely to raise funds for good causes. To date, players have raised over £500 million for good causes. Charity lotteries are licenced by the Gambling Commission who regulate the sector in line with the provisions of the 2005 Gambling Act.

2.       We urge Government and Parliament, in consideration of the issues around problem gambling, to ensure that charity lotteries, which exist to support good causes across the country and which have a significantly lower level of problem gambling risk than betting or casinos, are not inadvertently caught up in policy changes aimed at tackling concerns about problem gambling associated with online betting or other higher risk gambling products.

3.       If the difference between the sectors is not appreciated charity fundraising could be damaged in response to risks associated with commercial gambling companies.

4.       Charity lotteries represent one of the lowest risk forms of gambling there is and offer a significantly different product to that offered by bookmakers or casinos.

5.       2018 research by Nat Cen Social Research, on behalf of the Gambling Commission, found that lotteries have the lowest prevalence of problem gambling of any form of gambling1.

6.       Nottingham Trent University research categorised People’s Postcode Lottery as “low-risk”. This categorisation is due to several elements, including the discontinuous nature of the game, no illusion of control over the game, no chance to reinvest winnings, no ‘near misses’, and the fixed stake at a relatively low price2.

7.       Although People’s Postcode Lottery is a low-risk form of gambling, People’s Postcode Lottery still takes responsible gambling incredibly seriously. We have taken steps safeguard players, including:

• Our model is subscription only so players cannot chase losses and we do not offer online instant wins or scratchcards.
• Players can have a maximum of six subscriptions of £10 each - totalling £60 a month (£2 a day) – with a maximum of 3 subscriptions allowed to be purchased at any one time.
• Most of our players (89%) play with just one £10 per subscription per month (33p a day), and a further 9% play with just two subscriptions.

April 2020

1 Gambling behaviour in Great Britain in 2016 Nat Cen Social Research. Published 2018

2 A Social Responsibility Risk Assessment of People’s Postcode Lottery Nottingham Trent University. Published

2010

GAM0012

• Staff receive regular training to identify vulnerable persons, working with our supported charities and other organisations to develop knowledge and awareness of the key indicators.
• We operate a robust self-exclusion policy which players can access via email or free phone.
• Although 16-year olds can play lotteries, People’s Postcode Lottery’s marketing and advertising is intentionally not aimed at younger players. This approach is backed up by the fact that under 0.1% of our player base is under 18.

8.       People’s Postcode Lottery is supportive of the Gambling Commission having a strong and robust set of guidelines for tackling problem gambling. However, we would like to highlight that some operators, such as ourselves, already take the issue incredibly seriously and have been taking proactive steps to minimise risk to our players on our own volition.

9.              Charity lotteries are an important source of charity funding. The UK charity sector estimates it will lose £4 billion3 in income as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. With charity shops closed and fundraising events and activities cancelled, many charities are experiencing an increase in demand at the same time as a reduction in income.

10. We would be happy to share further information about how we protect vulnerable players, if this would be of use to the inquiry.

3 https://data.ncvo.org.uk/