Fewer children playing the National Lottery

A recent independent survey has shown that there are fewer children playing the National Lottery now than there has been in the last decade. The number of 12 to 15 year olds who are buying National Lottery tickets has fallen thanks to new protective measures put in place by the National Lottery operator, Camelot.

An independent study which was conducted by Ipsos MORI and the Centre for the Study of Gambling at the University of Salford surveyed nearly 9,000 children aged between 12 and 15 in England and Wales and is the most comprehensive underage lottery survey of its kind in the UK.

Here are some of the encouraging statistics to come from this lottery study.

• Just two percent of children said they had played the National Lottery with their own money in the past seven days which is down from five percent in 2006.

• Only four percent claimed to have bought lottery scratchcards, down from six percent in 2006 and nine percent in 2000.

• Just one per cent said they had tried other National Lottery games compared to six percent in 2006.

• Of the 96 per cent of children who have been on the internet in the past week only 0.3 % of children claim to have spent money playing online National Lottery games.

• There has been a fall in the numbers of children who are problem gamblers. Two percent, down from 3.5 percent in 2006.

These figures are a welcome sight after we regularly hear lottery news stories about underage gambling and the effects it has. The figures reported in this lottery study show that Camelot’s online Lotto restrictions preventing children from accessing interactive Lottery games appear to be successful, along with the extra vigilance shown by lottery retailers when children attempt to buy tickets.