GambleAware: ‘National Lottery products are addictive’

Playing the National Lottery is not “risk free”, GambleAware has warned.

The organisation urged the operator, Allwyn UK, to put ‘health warnings’ on its advertising and products.

Latest sales figures show that gamblers spent £7.8 billion on the National Lottery in 2023-2024.

Widespread concern

Following a GambleAware-commissioned survey of almost 18,000 adults by YouGov, it reported that 74 per cent of the public believe the National Lottery “should signpost people to support for gambling harm on its products”.

One person told YouGov: “When I gave up gambling and self-excluded myself from places I could gamble, the one thing I couldn’t bar myself from was playing the lottery in shops. When I got a craving in my early recovery, I bought £450 worth of scratch cards.”

Another said: “I wasn’t able to buy food for about a week because I’d spent the food shopping money on scratch cards”.

‘Serious public health issue’

Research published by the Department of Culture last month stated: “When asked about their other gambling behaviour, 53% of lottery players stated that they participated in a non-lottery form of gambling, which is far higher than the 16% of non-lottery players.”

And Breakeven, a counselling service for problem gamblers and their loved ones, calculated that around 11 per cent of its clients in 2024 “disclosed that the National Lottery or scratch cards were causing them gambling harm”.

GambleAware’s Chair of Trustees Andy Boucher said that Allwyn UK must “play a critical role in protecting people from gambling harms, which are a serious public health issue that can drive societal inequalities, worsen mental health issues, and increase pressure on our over-burdened health system”.