Camelot withdraws some lottery scratchcards
The company has instructed local shops that they have to pull the £10 Camelot scratchcards for player protection considerations.
UK.- Camelot has announced that it is withdrawing its £10 scratchcards as part of its player protection programme. The company told shops that they should remove the £10 scratchcards because of player protection considerations.
The UK-based company confirmed the move to inews.co.uk and a spokesperson said that pulling the scratchcards is part of their player protection programme, which includes research, polling players and looking at game designs.
Last year alone, Camelot registered £3.1 billion in sales just from scratch cards and online instant win games. However, the company doesn’t detail its revenue figures by game or price, so it’s not possible to know how much it made from the £10 scratchcards.
“Our decision to stop selling £10 Scratchcards back in the summer was based on player protection considerations. As part of the ongoing work we carry out to ensure all of our players can play in a healthy and enjoyable way, we became aware that, unlike any of our other scratchcards, these particular games over-indexed among problem gamblers,” said the spokesperson.
“Even though it’s widely acknowledged that the risk of problem play associated with our games is very low, player protection has always underpinned the way we run The National Lottery. So, in keeping with that commitment, we decided to stop selling these particular Scratchcards and instructed our retailers to remove all tickets from sale. We believed this was the right thing to do to help protect the very small minority of players concerned.”
UKGC’s word
The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC), said that based on new evidence, it considered that the association of problem gambling with the £10 scratchcard was such that it was not consistent with it being a legitimate leisure activity.
“After careful consideration of new evidence both the Commission and the Licensee agreed that all scratchcards at the £10 price point should be removed from sale until we are satisfied that the risks posed to our duties are mitigated.
“Whilst there is likely to be some negative impact on good causes, the Commission is satisfied that this decision reflects the primacy of our first two duties and was necessary and proportionate.”
