Advice on use of imagery on lottery scratchcards

The Gambling Commission has published a new advice note entitled “Lottery products and particular appeal to children” that focuses on the use of imagery on lottery scratch cards.

The Commission’s advice note (that can be downloaded below) sets out the requirements of:

  • LCCP Social Responsibility Code provision 5.1.7, requiring that the marketing of products and services is undertaken in a socially responsible manner, and
  • CAP Code rules, that you can also download below, requiring that marketing communications for lotteries are socially responsible, with particular regard to the need to protect children, young persons under 18 and other vulnerable persons from being harmed or exploited by advertising that features or promotes lotteries.

The advice note also refers to the Committee of Advertising Practice’s guidance on “Gambling advertising: protecting children and young people” (that came into force on 1 April 2019), commenting that:

Content is considered to have ‘particular appeal to children or young persons’ if it is likely to appeal more to under 18s than to over 18s. The use of colourful and exaggerated cartoon-style graphics are likely to be considered to have particular appeal to under-18s, as are cartoon animals. Characters from, or similar to those from, children’s TV, films, nursery rhymes and fairy tales are similarly at risk of being particularly appealing to children.

Download article PDF: 17 - Lotteries CAP Code