Society lotteries must become more transparent from next year, the Gambling Commission has ruled.
New requirements will kick in from April 4, 2018, forcing all lotteries to make it clear to customers at the point of sale which society or charity proceeds will go to.
They must also publish what proportion of money raised in the previous year was returned directly for the purposes of the society.
The changes follow a consultation on new codes for society and local authority lottery operators – as well as external lottery managers – to improve transparency for players.
After considering the evidence, a consultation response has been published.
Commission executive director for lotteries Sarah Gardner said: “We want to make sure that consumers have as much information as possible to make informed choices about their gambling.
“In lotteries, we know that players are motivated by a range of things, particularly the chance to contribute to good causes, so it is only right that they understand what that means in practice.
“Our regulatory approach puts consumers right at the heart of everything that we do. This has been built on further in our new three-year strategy, where we say we will consider whether any further changes are necessary to ensure that society lotteries can continue to make important contributions to society, while being run in a way which is fair and safe for consumers.
“In particular, we have said it is important that information is available for consumers to help them to understand which good causes are being supported and how much of their money goes to the good cause.”
