The operator of the National Lottery was hit with what amounted to a fine of €150,000 last year for a system failing that allowed problem gamblers to access its online platform despite having been self-excluded from playing the lottery.
It is the first time the Premier Lotteries Ireland has been financially penalised as a result of problems identified by the regulator.
The regulator’s annual report, published on Tuesday, also reported that National Lottery sales and the returns to good causes fell for the first time since the current licence was awarded in 2014.
While money returned by Premier Lotteries Ireland to good causes matched 2019 pre-pandemic levels, sales in 2022 fell 16 per cent compared with 2021, at €884.1 million. That was fractionally below the €884.5 million in revenue in 2019.
The regulator said the decrease was expected given the unprecedented Lotto jackpot rollover that drove higher than normal sales in 2021, followed by the impact on household budgets of rising inflation during 2022.
It also pointed to new mandatory age and identity verification checks for all online players to offer increased protection against underage play and players attempting to circumvent limits on spending, or a self-exclusion period.
The regulator noted that these enhanced controls “added friction to setting up a new account or payment card for some players, and consequently contributed to lost sales during the year”.
For 2022, the regulator reported that online sales – for the first time – did not grow relative to retail sales. Consumers returned to retail and the jump in online activity due to the pandemic lockdown period came to an end. Online sales remained at 16 per cent of total sales in 2022
The regulator used its statutory enforcement powers to investigate Premier Lotteries, culminating in the finding that it had breached its licence. That led to €150,000 being withheld from payments due to the operator for the first time.
The money was subsequently transferred to the Exchequer for good causes.
The regulator appointed an investigator after 126 accounts where the user had chosen to be permanently self-excluded were deleted in error by the operator in 2021. This was due to an algorithm designed to delete closed accounts after two years in order to comply with GDPR.
The operator had voluntarily introduced a new permanent self-exclusion option for players in 2019 to prevent problem gaming.
The regulator found that the deleted accounts should have been maintained by Premier Lotteries Ireland as permanently closed to prevent their owners from opening new accounts.
It found that 16 of the affected players had, in fact, opened a new account, with 10 of these players purchasing tickets through their new accounts, totalling €3,292 in sales.
As well as withholding money from the operator, enhanced controls have since been put in place to detect and prevent any self-excluded player from opening another account.
“The introduction of mandatory age and identity verification checks for all online players has created even tighter controls for opening a National Lottery account online,” said the regulator of the National Lottery, Carol Boate. “I am confident that this measure has already deterred and prevented underage and problem gamers from accessing National Lottery games online, including those who self-exclude.”
