UK government puts EuroMillions bets under review
Lottoland says it’s providing consumers “value and choice” as Department for Culture, Media and Sport looks to close “loophole” enabling bets to be placed on draw
Bet-on-lottery operators may be forced to scrap one of their most popular UK-facing products after the country’s government revealed it would be closing a “loophole” that enables bets to be placed on the outcome of EuroMillions draws.
In a statement at the weekend, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport said it would launch a consultation later this week amid concern that an increasing number of customers playing on sites such as Lottoland meant less money was going to charitable causes.
“There are fears that if action is not taken official EuroMillions sales will continue to be hit and draw money away from good causes in the UK that benefit as a result,” the statement read.
“Good causes include the arts, sport and heritage sectors as well as health projects and supporting charities and volunteering.”
To protect charitable contributions, UK regulations stipulate operators cannot offer bets on draws taking place where customers are resident – meaning operators cannot offer bets to UK customers on the UK National Lottery.
This also means operators cannot offer the UK version of EuroMillions in the UK, however, as the draw is the same throughout Europe, operators have circumvented this rule by offering EuroMillions bets on mainland versions of the draws instead.
Lottoland has been one of the most prominent firms to do so, with the product proving successful with customers, particularly after the operator held its price of a bet at £2 when Camelot raised the price of a EuroMillions ticket to £2.50.
In response to the DCMS’ statement, Lottoland CEO Nigel Birrell welcomed the consultation and the chance to make the case against having a monopoly lottery system, currently in the shape of Camelot.
“We represent fair competition and an alternative from those disenfranchised with the current monopolistic market and offer,” Birrell said.
“We are licensed, we pay our taxes and we are creating jobs – more than 300 so far. We believe this agenda is clearly being driven by Camelot lobbying to protect their monopoly and bully any competition out of the market, a precedent we have seen with society lotteries and most notably the Health Lottery,” he added.
Camelot head of policy and regulatory affairs, Daniel Dyball, also welcomed the consultation, with the firm having consistently argued that bet-on-lotteries operators were guilty of taking away money from good causes.
“Our overarching objective is to raise as much money as possible for good causes, and we’ve long argued that bet-on-lottery firms are circumventing the legislation and causing player confusion by offering bets on EuroMillions – with good causes missing out,” Dyball said.
You can read Birrell’s full response here.