“Betting, gaming and lotteries” are reserved powers to Westminster in the Wales Act 2017, so could be considered another non-devolved matter Wales would take responsibility for only after independence.
Although general policy with regard gambling and betting is worthy of a more lengthy post at a later date (it took me 4 and a half years, but I eventually got round to it – Vice Nation: Gambling), the National Lottery is the single most significant feature within this category, so I’m looking at it separately.
The National Lottery was established by the Conservative UK Government in 1994. It was the first truly “national” lottery, as before 1994, only smaller, local, lotteries were permissible. Camelot Group were the private company awarded the National Lottery franchise, and have successfully retained that franchise ever since.
One of the more important features of the National Lottery is the Big Lottery Fund, which raises about £600million to distribute to “good causes” annually.
The EuroMillions game, launched in 2004 by lottery operators in France, Spain and the UK, not only operates in nine different nation-states (UK, Rep. Ireland, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Austria, Spain & Portugal) but in three different currencies (Pound sterling, Euro and Swiss Franc).The jackpot prizes tend to be huge, running into tens of millions of Euros.
The costs to play differ depending on currency. Due to exchange rates, it’s slightly more expensive to play in the UK (£2.50 per turn) than the Eurozone members (€2.50, which is currently around £2.20) but it’s slightly cheaper than the Swiss franc (CHF3.50 per turn = £2.80).
There’s also pan-national lotteries operating in the Nordic and Baltic countries (Viking Lotto) and the bulk of the rest of the EU nations, such as Germany, Italy, Finland, Netherlands (Eurojackpot). Lotteries, based on this evidence, operate quite flexibly across international borders.
So there’s no reason – in principle – why a pan-Great Britain/British Isle lottery couldn’t continue as currently.
The issues that would need to be sorted out would be:
- Regulation – All of the member states of the (Post)National Lottery would presumably want some say in the regulation of the games. There would probably need to be harmonised legislation.
- Currency – What would the prices to play be if currencies changed in respective member nations? If Wales or Scotland joined the Euro/created a separate currency, would we pay less/more? (see more: Currency VIII – What’s the best option for Wales?).
- Distribution of good cause money – Probably the most contentious issue. Would money for good causes be distributed on a needs basis (meaning Wales might get slightly more)? Or on a geographical basis (a guaranteed ~5% [£30million]) for Wales annually, based on current figures?
