Camelot acts on under-age Lottery sales

Camelot is to spy on National Lottery retailers to find out if they are selling tickets to children, after a report by the regulator Oflot found that one in six children had played the Lottery in the preceding week.

The survey found that the number of children spending their own money on the Lottery had dropped by a third to 18 per cent since an initial survey in November 1995.

But, more alarmingly, it revealed that six per cent of children questioned in the preceding seven days had been sold a Lottery ticket or scratchcard, or both. A further nine per cent said an adult had bought the tickets for them.

As a result, Oflot is forcing Camelot to mount a public awareness drive to stamp out illegal sales of Lottery tickets to children. Camelot has also agreed to the principle of test purchases to identify retailers who sell tickets to children.