2.7 m
the number of players registered.
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Protection online
Over the past few years we've built the biggest online lottery in the world and our website has won several awards for its outstanding customer service. We also work hard to make sure that players using our interactive channels have as much protection as those buying from a retailer.
Our aim of providing easier access to attract new players is paying off, with our interactive channels showing significant growth over the past year. Sales through our interactive channels (www.national-lottery.co.uk, Sky Active and Play by Text) rose by more than 35.3% from £214.8 million in 2005/06 to £290.8 million in 2006/07. This year we met our commitment to improve the accessibility and capacity of our website. But as games become more accessible we also need to make sure players are as protected when they use new channels as they would be buying a ticket from a retailer.
To prevent underage and excessive play in players using the internet, mobile phones or digital TV, we use a system of checks and balances like self-imposed spending limits, age-verification systems and capped spending, which we developed in partnership with GamCare and the National Lottery Commission.
- The details of anyone registering to play interactively are authenticated to ensure the player is 16 or over and has a valid UK or Isle of Man address
- Players are not allowed to use credit cards
- Players can place self-imposed limits by setting their own spending limits
- They also have the option to exclude themselves from games
- To prevent excessive playing, we have set a weekly maximum spend of £350 per player on Instant Win Games, with players receiving a warning message from £250 onwards. These spend limits are regardless of whether the player reinvests any winnings and were set following an international benchmark study.
Following the international benchmarking study on player protection online we conducted this year, we introduced more advanced measures to our player protection systems, which already lead the field. They include:
- Regular email content about player protection to registered players
- Additional training on responsible play for staff in our interactive contact centres
- Regular updates to players as 'reality checks' on spending and session length.
During the course of 2007/08, we will be introducing the following measures:
- Concerned players will be offered permanent, irreversible self-exclusion
- Trial games will be available to registered players only
- Weekly wallet load limits will be introduced
- Daily and weekly Instant Win Game play limits (i.e. restricting the amount of repeated plays possible) will replace the current spend limits in place.
When tested by children's charity NCH, the National Lottery site was one of the few gambling-related sites that prevented a young person from registering illegally. Camelot was also the first company to gain GamCare accreditation for its internet, interactive TV and mobile phone services.
We have an ongoing commitment to renew our internet, mobile phone and interactive TV accreditations each year, all of which we achieved in 2006/07. In 2007/08 we plan to continue our commitment to player protection by renewing our GamCare accreditations for our internet, interactive TV and mobile phone channels.