The United Kingdom is one of the biggest markets for the gambling industry. This is mainly because most forms of gambling are legal in the country. The UK is simply one of the most welcoming markets for the gambling industry.
This is why the best UK online casinos carry plenty of casino games and other forms of gambling like sports betting, paid and accessible free lottery sites from all over the world. The locals are simply fond of gambling whether it’s through playing slot machine games or by betting on the FIFA or English Premier League fixtures or matches.
The UK National Lottery is also one of the most favorite ways that the locals gamble. Over 70 percent of the adult population in the UK has played the national lottery at some point in their lives. This means that around 45 million people in the country have already played the national lottery. Statistics also show that there are over 200,000 16 and 17-year-olds that play the lottery in the country.
Research has shown that 15 percent of people who are aged 11 to 16 would gamble each week. In the last few months, there is also 39 percent of the people in this age group have admitted to spending their money on gambling. This means that younger people are illegally participating in gambling activities.
The legal gambling age in the UK is 18, however, for the National Lottery, 16 year-olds are allowed to gamble on scratch-off cards and online instant wins. Once they turn 18, that’s only when they can gamble in other ways, like playing casino games online or not and also betting on sports.
In the last few months, there have been talks about changing the minimum age for the national lottery. The chair of the Gambling Related Harm-All Party Parliamentary Group, Labour MP, Caroline Harris, said that lotteries are in direct competition with other gambling companies. However, the national lottery has more advantages as they can also recruit people who are at the age of 16.
It’s no secret that the UK has been finding solutions to curb the gambling problems in the country and the National Lottery is also doing its part by changing the minimum playing age from 16 to 18. It is still unknown when the change will be effective. However, when it’s already implemented, this means that anyone below 18 can no longer buy scratch cards anywhere in the UK.
So far, it is likely that this change won’t be implemented by at least 2023, however. This is because that is when the lottery license will be up for renewal, according to the UK Gambling Commission or the UKGC.
This could help curb the gambling addiction problems in the country and this why numerous parties are supporting this change. Harris said that this change is decided on because it is a matter of urgency. Especially that the UK has thousands of child gambling problems.
Dr. Steve Sharman who is a research fellow at the School of Psychology at the University of East London spoke about this change and said, “We welcome the news that the government is likely to increase the age limit for Lottery products to 18, as our research has demonstrated a statistically robust link between legal youth gambling and adult gambling problems.
“This move represents a small but significant step in the right direction of protecting children from gambling harm,” he added.
The CleanUP Gambling organization is also supporting this change. Matt Zarb-Cousin who is from this party said, “The younger you start gambling, the more likely you are to fall into addiction. All gambling should be restricted to 18 and over.”
The Camelot Group is also supportive of this. According to its CEO, Nigel Railton, the minimum age of 16 to be able to play the lottery has been there for 25 years. He said that it is probably a good time to look at it.
Around 66 percent of the young population gambles illegally and are also participating in the National Lottery. Some of them have said that this is because they were used to seeing gambling advertisements online and on the TV.
This is why the UKGC has implemented stricter rules when it comes to advertising gambling activities. There should be no gambling advertisements on TV on day-time television. The UKGC also told gambling companies to not have animations and young on their ads because these could easily get a young person’s attention. Even if the person is already of age, if he or she looks under the age of 25, they are prohibited from being part of the ad.
The UKGC has implemented stricter rules for the gambling operators in the country to follow in the last years. This is for the country to have fewer gambling problems and to also protect the children and the young population from developing a gambling addiction.
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