Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment the Government has made of the potential merits of imposing a maximum purchase price for fixed odds betting via scratchcards.

The Government does not have any plans to impose a maximum purchase price for scratchcards.

The 2016 Health Survey found that lottery products are low risk, with scratchcards having a problem gambling rate of 1.8%.

The Secretary of State’s directions to the Gambling Commission state that National Lottery games should have sufficient controls to prevent excessive play. They also require the Commission to ensure that the price of games, in the opinion of the Commission, are not unreasonably high.

The National Lottery’s player protection policies can be found in the Consumer Protection Strategy. Some society lottery operators also offer scratchcards, either physically through retailers or online. Society lottery operators are required to have and put into effect policies and procedures to promote socially responsible gambling.