Camelot congratulates responsible National Lottery retailers for third consecutive year
91% of retailers correctly asked for ID during mystery shopping visits
Camelot has congratulated National Lottery retailers for the third year running following confirmation that 91% of retailers visited in 2018 correctly asked for ID as proof of age on the first occasion. This is the same as last year’s figures, and is up 2% on 2016’s results and a massive 5% on 2015’s.
The strong figures were the result of the company conducting 11,600 mystery shopping visits last year – as part of its long-term commitment to preventing underage and excessive play.
Camelot will be working with retailers in a number of ways throughout the year to continue the ongoing success in this area. Measures include asking for the right types of ID and ensuring staff are correctly trained to ensure they do not sell National Lottery products to anyone under the age of 16, as well as the introduction of a new ‘preventing excessive play’ training programme.
Currently being rolled out to its 44,000-strong retail estate, the training programme equips retailers with the tools to help minimise problem play in store. It will enable retailers to respond and take action in various scenarios, including if a customer asks for help with their play, or if a retailer is worried about a regular customer playing too much. The programme also provides retailers with the right resources to be able to offer help to their customers, including details of GamCare – the leading provider of information, advice, support and free counselling for the prevention and treatment of problem gambling.
Camelot’s Retail Director, Duncan Malyon, commented: “To play any National Lottery games, you must be 16 or older. Obviously many retailers already have their own underage policies in place – such as Challenge 21 or 25 – but we’re doing all we can to provide support and guidance for National Lottery products specifically. So, while ensuring people under 16 aren’t playing our games is vital, it’s also important that retailers know what to do if a customer might be playing too much.
“We hope that our measures provide retailers with some easy-to-use top tips – and we’ll also be conducting telephone calls and face-to-face visits to talk through what it means in their individual store. We’re delighted with the 91% first visit pass-rate and I’d personally like to thank all of our retailers for this achievement. I hope that we can all work together to do even better in 2019.”
Camelot’s mystery shopping programme has been in place for over a decade. If a retailer fails a mystery shopping visit on three occasions, their National Lottery terminal will be suspended and is likely to be removed.
