DREAM BIG PLAY SMALL

National Lottery games should always be fun, playing in a way that is right for you.

We know that amazing things happen when lots of people play a little. We're proud to say that around 60% of UK adults enjoy our games, so encouraging healthy play is at the heart of everything we do. The way we design our games and the healthy play tools available help to put you in control of your play.

Find out how we support healthy play and prevent underage play in our Consumer Protection Strategy and watch our video to learn more about how our games work.

We want players to enjoy playing National Lottery games in a healthy way. If you’re concerned about your play, contact us for support.

Putting you in control

It's important that you always play within your means and at a level you can afford. Whether you want to limit your spend and play or take a break from playing our games, we have a range of healthy play tools designed to help you do just that.

There are various features we provide to help you along the way:

  • See how much you’re playing - each time you play or try an Instant Win Game, we'll tell you how many you've bought or tried in the last 24 hours.
  • Keep track of how long you're signed into your account - you can see this in the top-right corner of every page.
  • See how much money you've added AND spent in the last 7 days in the spend and play settings section of your account.
  • See full transaction history for all the games you've played are listed in your account.

You can set limits that are right for you in the spend and play settings section of your account. This includes the amount you can spend and deposit across a 7 day rolling period, to the number of Instant Win Games you can play in 24 hours. Reducing your limits takes effect immediately. If you want to increase your limits, it will take 24 hours.

It's easy to lose track of time so a reminder will automatically appear after you've been logged in for 1 hour. You can change this anytime to appear after 20 minutes, right up to a maximum of 2 hours. To adjust the frequency of the reminder, visit the spend and play settings section of your account.

We have an online test that helps you to consider certain behaviours to ensure that playing not just our games, but all the games you play, remains fun.

A series of questions walk you through what experts consider important when looking at healthy play behaviour.

Take the test

Our budget calculator is designed to help you work out how you spend your money each month. It's quick to complete and your answers remain completely confidential; we don't see or keep any information.

Go to calculator

There are a range of options for taking a break from playing. You can:

  • Moderate your Instant Win Game plays by choosing to stop playing all, or specific, Instant Win Games for a set period of time.
  • Take a short break from all National Lottery games online from 1 day up to 5 months.
  • Take a long break from all National Lottery games online from 6 months up to 5 years.
  • Set a lifetime exclusion from all National Lottery games online, which is irreversible.

When choosing to take a break, we recommend opting out of app and web notifications. To find out how, visit our FAQs page.

You can set a break or a lifetime exclusion via the spend and play settings section of your National Lottery account. All changes will take effect immediately. Details of the effect of exclusion are set out in the Service Guide.

GAMSTOP

If you're considering excluding yourself from playing, you may wish to register with GAMSTOP. They provide a free service to self-exclude from online gambling websites and apps in Great Britain. To find out more and sign up, visit GAMSTOP. Please be aware that GAMSTOP will only exclude you from National Lottery Instant Win Games and not draw-games, and it can take up to 12 hours for your self-exclusion to become effective. If you'd like to exclude yourself from all National Lottery games, you can do so via the spend and play settings in your National Lottery account.

You may also wish to consider using gambling blocking software. Gamban blocks access to online gambling websites and applications and can be used across all your devices.

HELP IS AT HAND

Gaming is fun but for a few, it may become a problem.

If you're worried about yourself, or someone you know, you can speak in confidence to the people at GamCare available 24/7, on 0808 8020 133 or visit the GamCare website for support.

HOW WE KEEP OUR PLAYERS SAFE

GamCare is the leading national provider of free information, advice and support for anyone affected by problem gambling. Allwyn achieved Advanced Level 2 of the Safer Gambling Standard for GamCare’s social responsibility quality standard for licensed gaming operators. It aims to increase overall standards of social responsibility practice across the industry, helping to make play safer for all.

This accreditation forms part of our wider Responsible Play strategy, ensuring National Lottery games are enjoyed safely both in retail and online.

Visit GamCare for more information about the Safer Gambling Standard

We design games that are both safe and fun to play. This is supported by tools and processes which closely monitor games as they are being developed, launched and played.

This helps us ensure we're not designing games which are high risk, and avoid games which are very quick to play, or stakes that are particularly high.

Playing in retail

We're committed to preventing underage play. If you believe National Lottery games are being sold to under 18s, please call 0345 301 6216.

Playing on our website

Our games are accessible only by users whose age and identity have been confirmed. We use an independent organisation to verify a player's age to ensure they are over 18.

You can ensure that young people don't have access to your National Lottery account by keeping your username and password confidential. There are also many third-party content filtering applications you can use to monitor or restrict internet use on your computer, such as:

  • www.netnanny.com - Net Nanny filtering software, which protects children from viewing inappropriate web content
  • www.27labs.com - CYBERsitter filtering software, which allows parents and guardians to add their own list of blocked sites to its filter

To keep players safe online, we use an in-house behavioural analytics model which identifies at-risk players, enabling us to support them through targeted interventions. Players who are identified as at-risk also have significantly lower deposit and play limits automatically applied to their account and are provided with advice on managing their play.

We also have measures to help prevent sales to under 18s and support healthy play in retail outlets, such as:

  • Mandatory training for all new National Lottery retailers – covering healthy play, underage sales prevention, treatment referral and wider consumer protection issues.
  • Regular communication with our retailers on how they can prevent underage play and support healthy play.
  • Our underage mystery shopper programme – visits are carried out by young people aged over 18 who we reasonably expect to be challenged for ID. The programme is a tool used to monitor the compliance of our retailers as a result of the training and awareness we have in place to help prevent sales to underage players.
  • Our healthy play mystery shopper programme which tests randomly selected retailers’ knowledge on healthy play and whether they are able to correctly signpost players to sources of support.

Players are limited to purchasing a maximum of 10 Scratchcards in one transaction. A transaction is a purchase (which includes the purchase of Scratchcards) made during a single visit to a store. This is part of our commitment to ensure that The National Lottery remains a trusted and safe environment for our players.

National Lottery games could be the perfect little gift, particularly for people who may be hard to buy for. When purchasing a National Lottery product (which might win a fantastic prize), it comes with the added bonus of raising money for National Lottery-funded projects.

When giving National Lottery draw tickets or Scratchcards as a gift, purchasers need to consider who they are gifting to and ensure they are always gifting responsibly – people need to be 18+ to buy, gift, receive and play – and to claim a prize.

Responsible gifting is in line with Allwyn’s commitment to protecting players and operating in a socially responsible way.

Our approach to gift responsibly means:

  • National Lottery products are only to be gifted to those aged 18+. Our retail partners are trained not to allow under-18s to redeem prizes in store. They are also trained not to allow underage purchases, which retailers are tested on via our nationwide mystery shopping programme.
  • Purchasers must not gift National Lottery products excessively to individuals, and should keep in mind that a maximum purchase limit of 10 Scratchcards per transaction applies in stores.
  • Purchasers should aim not to gift National Lottery products to anyone who may find the gift inappropriate for any reason.

CONTACT US FOR ASSISTANCE

If you have any problems with changing your settings, or you would prefer to speak to someone about changing your settings, please don’t hesitate to get in touch:

Webchat:Chat with one of our Customer Service Agents  

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Email:help@national-lottery.co.uk

Phone:0333 234 44 33

Opening hours:Monday to Saturday: 8am –8pm; Sunday: 9am – 5pm

(Calls cost no more than calls to 01 and 02 numbers. If your phone tariff offers inclusive calls to landlines, calls to 03 numbers will be included on the same basis.)

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