This research was commissioned by the Regulator of the National Lottery to assess the effectiveness of the Operator of the National Lottery’s systems in place to prevent underage purchase of National Lottery products; the research is designed to allow the Regulator to monitor the Operator’s endeavours by comparing current results to the baseline results reported in 2018. This allows the Regulator to examine the impact of any new measures introduced during this period by the Operator of the National Lottery, Premier Lotteries Ireland DAC (“PLI”), to ensure the compliance of its retailers with underage sales prevention requirements.

New measures introduced by the Operator after the 2018 research results include:

• A ‘Think 21’ policy requiring retails staff to request photo identification from all persons who appear under the age of 21.
• Operator mystery shops conducted in around 500 retail premises every 6 months to monitor compliance with retailers receiving feedback and sanctions for failure.

Additionally, many retailers installed an additional till prompt, activated upon scanning of the scratch card, to remind staff that the purchaser needs to be aged 18+.

The purpose of this research exercise is to test whether the measures taken by the Operator are sufficient to prevent children purchasing National Lottery products. The research does not assess the compliance of individual retailers with their obligations, as this is a matter for the Operator who authorises each individual retail outlet.