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UK Under 18s Are No Longer Eligible for Online National Lottery Games
By Jeff Osienya Apr 25, 2021 LegalityTeens in the United Kingdom will only be permitted to participate in National Lottery and scratchcard games when they’re 18 years old. 16 and 17-year-olds have officially been barred from playing online lottery games.UK residents aged between 16 and 17 are no longer allowed by the law to participate in online National Lottery games. This change in lottery eligibility regulation took effect on Thursday, April 22nd, with all online National Lottery products and affiliated organizations required to raise the age limit right away.
For retail lottery products, the increased age limit will take a few more months to be fully implemented. The UK government is looking at an October 18th deadline to enforce the same restriction for physical National Lottery ticket sales and in-person purchase of scratchcards in stores. Camelot, the official operator of the UK National lottery, recently welcomed the government’s new move and went ahead to release a statement of support through a spokesperson, saying:
Quote“Now that a decision has been made to raise the age to 18 by October 2021, we’ll be doing everything we can to implement all of the changes that will be necessary as quickly as possible, while ensuring that we maintain the very high standards demanded of The National Lottery.”
Why Has the UK Government Increased the National Lottery Age Limit?
The main reason why Great Britain is bringing about the new restrictions is to protect youngsters from the harms of gambling. After carrying out a review last year, the government decided that it was best to bring the minimum age limit for participation in any form of lottery products to 18 years old at par with all other types of gambling.
Previously, the legal age for lottery participation for UK residents was 16 years old, where statistics indicated that over 200,000 youngsters aged 16 and 17 played lottery and scratchcard games. Nigel Huddleston, the Minister for Sport, Tourism, and Heritage, recently pointed out that increasing the lottery age limit to 18 would prevent the lottery from being a “gateway to problem gambling” for minors.
For a lot of people in Great Britain’s government, there is a dire need for change in how the gambling industry is operating, and the lottery age limit is just one of those sweeping changes. This transition is also coming when the UK Gambling Act 2005 is facing a review to bring it up to standard with the current times. Meanwhile, the Gambling Commission, UK’s gambling industry regulator, has also come under fire by lawmakers for dropping the ball several times, most recently with the Football Index debacle.
Accounts for Under 18 Lottery Players to be Terminated
With the bumped-up age limit, thousands of teenagers between the age of 16 and 17 are having their online lottery accounts terminated. All players below 18 years can no longer participate in the lottery draws through the official mobile app of the National Lottery. However, the users will still be allowed to log into their National Lottery accounts up to November, after which the accounts will be closed for good.
On the other hand, users who will have turned 18 years old by November can choose to keep taking part in the lotto games if they want to, but their age will have to be verified. Under 18 lotto players who bought their tickets before April 22nd will remain eligible for collecting their payout if they win with their previously purchased tickets. Further, all participants under the newly introduced legal age limit who win a prize from the draws have 180 days from the day of the draw to collect their prize money.
For a long time, it had been sort of a tradition for teenagers in Great Britain to get a lottery ticket as a birthday present once they turned 16. With the newly introduced age restriction, that practice is now nothing but history. Some of the teenage lottery participants collected the biggest prizes in history when the minimum age limit was 16, including Callie Rodgers and Jane Park. Callie Rogers bagged a whopping £1.9 million jackpot prize from the UK Lotto in 2003 when she was only 16, becoming Britain’s youngest ever lottery winner. Jane Park, who has since earned celebrity status, scooped a £1 million payout from the Millionaire Maker in 2013 when she was 17 years old.
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