A range of the Operator’s activities require the written approval or consent of the Regulator under the Licence, including the following:

• New or amended lottery games.
• New service providers.
• Internal audit reporting line.
• Approvable Descriptions of processes and systems.
• Changes to Codes of Practice on:
  • Participants’ Code of Practice.
  • Sales Code of Practice.
  • Advertising and Promotion Code of Practice.

Details of requests for approval or consent received by the Regulator can be found here.

Regulatory Process

Every request for approval or consent is scrutinised by the Office of the Regulator to assess whether it complies with the relevant provisions of the Act and the Licence.  These provisions are designed to ensure the lottery is operated in a sustainable manner with all due propriety and places strong emphasis on player protection.

Each proposal is examined by a team of appropriate experts within the Office of the Regulator – typically comprising the Head of Audit and Finance, the Head of Legal and Compliance, and the Head of Player Protection and Research and the Regulator herself.

Where the Regulator is not satisfied that a request is compliant, the Operator may be asked for further information and explanations. These must be supplied within a time limit specified in the Licence. Often the Operator submits an amended proposal or an explanation that addresses any concern and the request is ultimately approved. Sometimes the Operator is unable to address the concerns within the time limit, and the request is withdrawn or rejected. This may be followed up in due course by a fresh application for a revised proposal, which will be subject to the same approval process.

The approval process can take from one to several months depending on the nature and complexity of the proposal.

When requesting approval for a new game, or a change to an existing game, the Operator submits proposed Game Rules, prize structures, images of the game artwork, and game risk reports.