SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Society lotteries will remain exempt from the RTS12 requirements under the UK Gambling Commission’s (UKGC) guidance on customer-led tools.
This was announced by Sarah Gardner, Deputy CEO of the UKGC, in her speech at this year’s Lotteries Council Annual Conference, where she cleared up some of the uncertainties around the implementation of the Gambling Act Review and how this will affect lotteries.
Updated technicalities included in the revamp of the Remote Technical Standards (RTS) would offer more customer protection safety nets around lotteries. One of them is RTS12 – a framework coming into force in October that will require the setting up of financial limits.
Drawing from the lottery sector’s request for clarity on these changes to the protection of customer funds, Gardner reassured that the majority of society lotteries will remain outside of RTS12’s remit, unless offering subscription-based services with ‘high frequency or instant win’ play.
Black market lotteries
Another main talking point – a must when it comes to UKGC’s work – was the black market with illegal lotteries in particular. Gardner highlighted that the Commission remains fully committed to reviewing the ‘hundreds of referrals’ for potential illegal draws or prize competitions, and enforcing regulatory action when necessary.
She revealed that for the period between 1 August 2024 and 24 April 2025, the UKGC has handed out a total of 93 reports of non-compliant draws to its Enforcement team for it to investigate further and respond appropriately.
Lotteries maintain high popularity
And as a final note, just to signify the high importance of lotteries for UK society, Gardner referred back to the Commission’s last participation survey. In it, it was revealed that one fifth of all gambling participation was solely engagement with lottery draws, such as the National Lottery or other charity lottery draws.
Total online gambling participation in the survey’s four week analysis fell from 38% to just 16% when lottery draws were removed from the equation, while the total in-person gambling rates followed a similar pattern – dropping from 29% to 19% without lotteries included.
