Clamp down on illegal lotteries may outlaw thousands of innocent quiz competitions
Thursday 4th November 2004
Proposed new gambling laws in the UK will redefine the boundaries between charitable lotteries and commercial prize competitions. The legislation, designed to clamp down on operators who promise prizes in order to get money, will also prevent kosher promotions that charge a premium rate for response.
Companies will have to rethink their strategies in the face of new laws. Promoters will either have to donate 20 per cent of the profits to charity and therefore become a lottery, make their competitions free to enter, or make the questions harder to turn the competitions from luck to skill.
Director of lottery manager Million-2-1, Chris Sheffield predicts most companies will choose to go the lottery route. He said; “Faced with a choice between losing all their revenue, losing a significant proportion of potential customers, or donating 20% to good causes, most organizations would see the value of taking the responsible approach and working with an external lottery manager to design new forms of promotion.”
Proposed new gambling laws in the UK will redefine the boundaries between charitable lotteries and commercial prize competitions. The legislation, designed to clamp down on operators who promise prizes in order to get money, will also prevent kosher promotions that charge a premium rate for response.