Ninety-one per cent of UK National Lottery retailers correctly requested ID as proof of age on the first visit in 2019, reports operator Camelot.
Congratulating its vendors, Camelot said that, for the fourth year in a row, mystery-shopper visits revealed a high pass rate – bettering the 2016 and 2015 results by two per cent and five per cent respectively.
Each year Camelot conducts 11,600 mystery-shopper visits to ensure that those under the age of 16 are unable to play any National Lottery game. The programme of visits has been running for more than a decade. If any retailer fails a mystery shopping visit on three occasions, their National Lottery terminal will be suspended and is likely to be removed.
Jenny Blogg, Retail Director at Camelot, said in a statement: “At this very difficult time, I’m absolutely delighted to be able to share the news that our National Lottery retail partners have retained their excellent mystery shopping pass rate for a third year running.
“Keeping players safe is central to how Camelot operates the National Lottery, and we have lots of processes in place to prevent underage play and also to support healthy play. Our 2019 results clearly show that these are working well, and have been for a number of years now.
“I’d like to personally thank each and every one of our retail partners for the part they have played in this,” said Blogg.
Camelot also emphasised commitment to its Supporting Healthy Play training programme, which educates retailers and offers advice on how to respond if a customer is asking for help with their play, or if shop staff are concerned about a regular customer playing too much.
The programme also offers retailers with the resources to offer customers information on GamCare, which is a leading provider of information, advice, support and free counselling for the prevention and treatment of problem gambling.
