Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions his Department has held with charity lottery operators on the positive impacts of the charity lottery reforms which came into effect in July 2020.

The Government legislated to increase society lottery sales and prize limits in March 2020, and these reforms came into effect in July 2020. The changes were:

• to increase the individual per draw sales limit from £4 million to £5 million;

• to increase the individual per draw prize limit from £400,000 to £500,000 (retaining the rule that the maximum prize is the greater of £25,000 or 10% of proceeds);

• to increase the annual sales limit from £10 million to £50 million.

The aim of these changes was to allow both society lotteries and the National Lottery to thrive, by enabling society lotteries to continue to grow, whilst ensuring the unique position of the National Lottery is maintained.

We are currently reviewing the impact of these changes, and have engaged with a range of stakeholders, including society lotteries, to gain an understanding of how they have benefited from the new limits.