This week Guangzhou has banned the sale of lottery tickets to children under the age of 18 and Denmark is considering making it illegal for children under 16 to buy scratch cards. In the United Kingdom the lottery legislation makes it an offence for anyone under the age of 16 to be sold any lottery products and prohibits prize payouts to anyone under that age. Staff training in implementation of the law is carried out before a National Lottery terminal is installed at a retailer and no one under 16 can sell lottery tickets.

It is still arguable whether young people of 16 to 18 years old should be eligible for buying tickets or winning on lotteries. A National Lottery Commission survey found that underage children playing the lottery were likely to have been given the tickets by parents who had not considered the illegality of their act. In Denmark the proposal by the Danish Gaming Service to ban access to betting shops to those under 16 has been supported by many MPs, but some believe the age should be raised further. At present Denmark has no definite figures for the problem of underage gambling.

Guangzhou, formerly known as Canton, on the Pearl River Delta is the capital of Guangdong Province in subtropical southern China. Guangdong is home to around 90 million people and is a centre of the textile manufacturing industry. The decision taken in Guangzhou, to make 18 the legal minimum age to buy lottery tickets, was based on preventing young people neglecting their studies by becoming involved in the lottery. It is estimated that the city accounts for nearly one third of lottery ticket sales in the country and is the first place to set an age limit.

China’s lottery business has grown at an annual rate of 50% over the last few years, with total sales ranking ninth in the world. There are two legal lotteries in the country, the Welfare Lottery for funding the public welfare system and the Sports Lottery; all other lotteries are banned from the domestic market. Around 200 jurisdictions operate lotteries and worldwide the lottery market is estimated to be worth an annual US$150 billion and sales are growing although at a much slower pace than other gambling markets. (E-08.17.05)

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