Please note: This is the speech as drafted and may slightly differ from the delivered version.

Good morning.

Thank you all for joining us here today for our very first Participant Protection conference.  Yes, you heard me correctly this is the very first participant protection conference that The National Lottery has had in 30 years. 

The very first one.

It is a topic that is at the heart of Allwyn’s transformation plans and central to our growth strategy – it underlines how we can confidently grow The National Lottery responsibly.

The National Lottery has a long and proud history of protecting the consumers that engage with it. This is in stark contrast to the wider gambling category which has historically taken a different approach.

For those of you that may not know, we have over 30 million people playing our games. 

And yet, the regulator’s survey constantly proves that despite the huge numbers of people playing, there is no evidence that National Lottery games are associated with high-risk problem gambling - they are safe, and we should celebrate that.

We believe that participant protection can be an enabler for growth. It’s not about preventing the player from playing, it’s about offering a safe place to play, and we will do that by upholding the highest standards of care to prevent harm to anyone who comes into contact with The National Lottery, particularly those who are vulnerable.

Our ambition to double returns to Good Causes requires considerable innovation in both product and consumer engagement. We need to grow by encouraging everyone to play a little bit more and not take any short cuts to financial growth. 

The National Lottery only exists to generate returns to society. It is a force for good, it would be hypocritical if we created harm as we grew. The only way for us to grow responsibly is to know that our games are safe, know that our players understand how to play them safely, and know our players well enough and communicate with them effectively. 

These are the questions we ask to reassure ourselves that our games are safe and to ensure we are improving players’ understanding of how to play safely. 

Being the guardian of this brilliant organisation is a privilege, but it is also a responsibility we take incredibly seriously.

Since taking over as operator in February 2024, Allwyn is investing over £400 million to modernise and upgrade its technical infrastructure – the first significant investment since the last upgrade back in 2009. 

This summer we took a major step forward on our transformation journey – with the retail upgrade which involved over 30 new systems, a completely new back-end gaming system, and a series of complex data migrations, including the transfer of tens of thousands of retailer records.

The next phase will bring significant digital improvements to our website and app, not just in terms of user experience, but also for player protection including new limits on deposits, player prompts, nudges and cooling off periods, alongside existing protections such age verification checks via Experian. 

With this approach, the emphasis becomes positive play, aimed at optimising the wellbeing of the entire player base rather than focusing on a small segment of players at risk of problem play. 

Through modernising and using the latest developments in science, health and technology, we can ensure we are building a positive play experience for all.

These changes will enable us to build out our behavioural analytics and interventions programme, to serve more tailored interventions to those who need them.

The improved interventions programme will introduce enhanced player segments and target specific risky behaviours, for example players who consistently increase the amount they deposit each time they play.

It’s clear from existing data and phone calls that we are already doing great work in this area. We’re evolving a tried and tested, successful approach to be even better at encouraging players to reflect on how they are playing and change their behaviour. 

The National Lottery has always done Participant Protection well, but we want to go further – to invest in and embrace new technology and innovation that enables us to grow revenues for distributors, government and better serve our society, and to do so in a way that always stays true to our mission to centre participant safety in everything we do. 

In the era of AI, the ability to personalise our response to player behaviours will be increasingly possible. 

There is huge potential for AI to transform player protections. It has the potential to deliver sophisticated tools for early detection of problematic behaviours.

But we aren’t just waiting for AI – 6 months into the new licence we introduced a new policy with over 40,000 retailers to limit in-store Scratchcard purchases to no more than 10 at a time.  

We also provide extensive ongoing 'responsible play' training to retailers that covers preventing both underage and excessive play. In total, we made over 130,000 face-to-face and phone contacts to support National Lottery retailers to sell responsibly.

Introducing these interventions and support plans have resulted in 98% of National Lottery retailers feeling confident in how to support customers with their play.

And before games go on sale, we carry out thorough testing to ensure they are all crafted with care and do not appeal to under-18's or vulnerable groups. Using a triple-layer risk assessment we review a game's structural and situational characteristics.

If any of these tools identify a risk level which is too high, we will revise the game. If the risk remains too high, the game will be shelved.

Ultimately as operator we have a responsibility to grow the National Lottery and make a meaningful contribution to a better society.

So we must create this growth responsibly. This is why we contribute 1.6 million to research, prevention and treatment bodies and why we want to get everyone together once a year to encourage debate, share learnings and look to future opportunities and challenges.

We are very grateful that you have given up time to join us here today. There are many long-term questions impacting the lotteries sector. So I am thrilled at the breadth of discussion and the calibre of expertise that’s included in today’s very full schedule. 

This is an open forum, and we want to hear from each and every one of you – please don’t be shy!

As I hand over to Andrew I just want to thank you all for being here today at this inaugural conference and engaging with us on this vitally important topic. 

We plan to host this conference annually. So please share your feedback with us so we can make next year’s even better.

Now, I’m delighted to hand over to Andrew Rhodes, CEO of the Gambling Commission who is going to share his thoughts on this topic from regulatory perspective, particularly in the context of an increasingly digital landscape and emerging technologies.