Austrian Lotteries accused of misconduct in youth protection failings
The player protection body Spielerhilfe says it has identified 70 reports of violations.
Austria.- The player protection and gambling addiction advisory group Spielerhilfe has accused Casinos Austria’s Österreichische Lotterien (Austrian Lotteries) of “continued gross misconduct” due to failings in protections for young people. It identified 70 violations in mystery shopper checks conducted at retail point-of-sale terminals in Salzburg and Upper Austria.
Lotterien has increased the minimum age for buying lottery tickets and scratch cards from 16 to 18, but Spielerhilfe says the Allwyn-owned operator breached the Salzburg Youth Act by failing to tell sales partners about the change in law. It says that 60 per cent of the retail outlets it tested sold products to shoppers aged 12 to 14.
Spielerhilfe chairman Christoph Holubar told a press conference yesterday: “The protection of minors is still not guaranteed. In more than half of all test purchases, children were able to buy Austrian Lottery products, even though they are only available to those aged 18 and over. The company has big problems controlling its sales partners.”
Holubar alleged that Lotterien was intentionally “targeting a vulnerable age group susceptible to gambling addiction” and accused the lottery operator of greenwashing. He said Spielerhilfe had reported 24 violations of the Salzburg Youth Act and has recommended that the Ministry of Finance conduct an integrity review.
Spielerhilfe is also recommending that Austria impose mandatory registration for all lottery and gambling products. Like similar measures imposed in Denmark for retail betting, this would require identification for all purchases, removing the onus for retail outlets to perform age checks.
Holubar said: “As a basic requirement, the Austrian lotteries must ensure proper player protection. The violations in Salzburg, but also in the other federal states, confirm that this is not guaranteed. The protection of young game participants is an absolute basic requirement that fails here. That is why the responsible authorities should now check whether the Austrian lotteries actually have the necessary reliability to be able to continue to keep the licence.”
He noted that age verification compliance failings can be punished with fines ranging from €250 to €14,600 and prison sentences of up to four weeks. Austria’s Chamber of Commerce has the power to revoke the business licences of repeat offenders.
