Lottery under criticism for plans
Last Updated: Wednesday 12th September 2018, 11:41
Plans put forward by the UK Lotto to introduce a bill payment plan into its terminals has come under fire this weekend from Paypoint. The plans are to introduce a similar plan to Paypoint to its lottery terminals but the Paypoint company has said that the service could have a detrimental effect on more vulnerable customers.
The National Lottery company wants to introduce a service that would allow customers to use the lottery terminals to pay utility bills and council tax, mobile phone top-ups and other bill payments at the same time as you buy lotto tickets. It will link up with banking giant Santander and other companies to launch the service if plans go ahead.
However Paypoint has waded into the debate saying that the lottery’s entry into the market would affect competition if the proposals get the go-ahead. They also say that by adding bill payments to a gambling service poses a significant risk to vulnerable groups like low income families.
Paypoint claim that the competition could see players spending money on lottery tickets instead of bills. The decision will now go to the National Lottery Commission who have opened an enquiry into the proposals.
In other lottery news, two players scooped the £4.6 million lottery jackpot in last night’s UK Lotto draw with each collecting £2.3 million. You can check the lottery results through our pages if you haven’t yet checked your tickets. The next UK Lotto draw will be held on Wednesday evening with an estimated £2.5 million jackpot.