Date: Tuesday 24 June 2024

Time: 1:00pm

Location: Committee Room 29, Parliament Buildings

Chairperson: Philip McGuigan MLA

Minutes taken by: Finn McGrath, Chambré

Members Present

·       Philip McGuigan MLA

·       Robbie Butler MLA

·       Paul Frew MLA

·       Timothy Gaston MLA

Apologies

·       Brian Kingston MLA

·       Danny Donnelly MLA

Minutes

1.     Welcome

Philip McGuigan MLA welcomed members to the meeting.

2.     Apologies

Apologies were noted.

3.     Minutes of last meeting

Members agreed that the minutes of the last meeting (25 February) were a true and accurate representation of that meeting. This was proposed by Robbie Butler and seconded by Paul Frew.

4.     Matters arising

The APG agreed to organise a roundtable meeting with Professor Henrietta Bowden-Jones, national advisor on gambling harms to the NHS in England and local stakeholders, after the recess.

Philip McGuigan updated members on the APG’s engagement with the IFA senior leadership team on 11 July. The discussion focused on educating professional football players about gambling-related harms and gambling marketing in football. APG members urged the IFA encourage NI Football League premiership clubs to move away from partnering with gambling companies, particularly front of shirt sponsorship. Philip McGuigan noted that the APG looks forward to the publication of the findings of the survey of players which they commissioned from Ulster University, which was designed to assess the prevalence of gambling and gambling-related harm among professional football players in NI.

5.     Introductory remarks from the Chair

Philip McGuigan thanked members who attended and supported the launch of Chapter One in the Long Gallery on 27 May.

He advised members that the Gambling Prevalence Survey for 2024 was published on 30 April, which showed that 3% of the population were identified as potential ‘problem gamblers’, with a further 10% were considered at low or moderate risk.

He also updated members on recent correspondence. He noted that APG officers had written to the Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy in November and the Gambling Minister Baroness Twycross in March urging them to use existing powers under the Gambling Act 2005 to take restrict gambling advertising and promotion and protect people across these islands from further gambling-related harm. The most recent response from Baroness Twycross, received on 12 May, was very disappointing, making only a token reference to NI and failing to address the APG’s concerns about the inability of the Advertising Standards Authority and Gambling Commission and to take enforcement action against gambling operators who are responsible for multiple breaches of the code here.

He also advised that he had written to the Gambling Commission for clarification on their powers in NI.

6.     Briefing on unregulated prize draws

Finn McGrath (APG secretariat) briefed members on the regulatory loophole in the Betting, Gaming, Lotteries and Amusements (Amendment) Act (NI) 2022 that allows for the unregulated operation of prize draws in NI.

Under the legislation, in order to operate a prize draw, there must be a free entry option. This can include a normal-rate phone call or sending in an entry by second-class post.

Prize draws were prohibited by NI’s gambling laws until the enactment of the 20022 legislation when the rules on prize draws and competitions in NI were aligned with those in GB.

This purpose of this was to legalise promotional free to enter prize draws, where a person has to buy a particular product to service to enter the draw (for example magazines, chocolate bars, Halifax Savers Prize Draw). NI had been excluded from UK-wide prize draw competitions.

In practice, this has led to the rise of a new gambling product in NI which has found uses a loophole in this legislation to operate pay to enter prize draws.

Well-known prize draw operator NI-based ‘That Prize Guy’ will invite you, for example, to enter a draw for a sports car or £100,000 cash prize. It will then give you the option to buy tickets online, incentivising you to buy additional tickets through a discount. It is easy to buy up to 1000 tickets at a cost of almost £400. There is also a clearly visible “free entry route” that you can click on. It shows a long block of text detailing the terms and conditions for entering via post. The free postal entry route is clearly less appealing and more difficult than the paid online entry route.

Prize draw operators are therefore taking advantage of a regulatory loophole. They are technically offering a free entry option, which classifies them as prize draws rather than lotteries, where all entries must be paid, which are regulated.

Because prize draws are not regulated, they do not require a licence from the statutory authorities in NI or the Gambling Commission in GB. Prize draws have no legal duty to protect vulnerable players, they may accept credit card payments, there are no prize limits on prize draws, and there is no legal requirement for players to be over 18.

Declan Cregan (training officer with Chapter One) spoke about his concerns relating to these type of prize draws. Through his work in schools, he was aware of children entering the prize draws.

Prize draws use the same marketing strategies as the gambling industry. They use celebrity endorsements, sponsor podcasts with comedians and boxers, boxing matches, and MMA and boxing gyms. This exposes their product to young people.

Prize draws also occasionally donate to good causes. Declan mentioned a £50,000 donation to That Prize Guy to a mental health charity, and noted that this possibly highlights the need for better education about the fact that gambling can be harmful to mental health.

Finn McGrath added that unlike charity lotteries, prize draws are not subject to regulation that would require them to donate a certain amount of their takings to good causes, and there are concerns about transparency of donations.

Declan Cregan also highlighted that there are multiple draws a day, and that prize draws can offer £1 million prizes. He described prize draws as a “gateway” to other forms of gambling.

7.     Discussion

Philip McGuigan asked where prize draws are advertised. Declan Cregan said it is primarily on Facebook and Instagram. Declan then read out a recent Facebook post from That Prize Guy, which offered sponsorship to amateur football clubs but added “but I don’t condone under-18s given the nature of our business”, which shows the acceptance of harm.

Will Chambré (APG secretariat) highlighted his concerns that while it does say on prize draw websites that the product is only for over 18s, there is no way monitor or enforced compliance.

Philip McGuigan asked where these companies are based. Declan Cregan said that there are many that are based in NI, and Will Chambré added that there are operators in GB who are taking advantage of a similar loophole there. Timothy Gaston asked whether they can operate in both jurisdictions. The secretariat confirmed that they could.

Robbie Butler noted that these are popular products that have become accepted and normalised, noting that while it might be right to regulate these products, we need to tackle them “from the bottom up”.

Timothy Gaston agreed that they have become accepted. He asked what the difference is between a prize draws and other competitions, such as a call-in to a radio station, for example the Cool FM Downtown “Cash Call”. It was agreed that the secretariat to look into this and report back to members.

Paul Frew asked what changes to legislation would seek to achieve in relation to prize draws. Finn McGrath said that the aim should be to ensure that prize draws are regulated, in line with other gambling products. Paul Frew said members could raise this issue to build support for regulating these products, and said members would need to further explore this issue. Philip McGuigan suggested that the APG looks at getting someone to do research on prize draws, noting that “gambling evolves, and this is a new evolution of gambling.”

Robbie Butler then spoke about the particular appeal of these gambling products which offer a physical prize such as a car. He also noted that due to the lack of regulation, when companies state that a draw will be held on a certain date there is nothing hold them to that.

The APG agreed to write to the Communities Minister highlighting the concerns raised by members.

The APG agreed that the secretariat would explore commissioning research into prize draws.

8.     Next Steps

The APG agreed to:

·       continue to advocate for the introduction of a statutory levy on land-based gambling operators here, and for NI to receive a share of the Westminster Government’s statutory levy on online gambling operators

·       continue to put push for the Communities Minister and his Department to begin preparatory work on comprehensive new Gambling Bill for NI, including an expert-led review of gambling legislation, similar to the Budd report which was commissioned prior to the 2005 Gambling Act in GB

·       continue to push the British Government to introduce tighter restrictions on remote gambling marketing in GB and to recognise that his will serve to reduce gambling harms across these islands.