The British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC) is reminding people not to gift scratch and win tickets to minors this holiday season.
“Research shows that early childhood gambling experiences, including those with lottery products, can be a risk factor for gambling problems later in life,” said Dr. Jamie Wiebe, director of player health for BCLC. “We encourage everyone to be gift smart and give lottery tickets as gifts only to adults.”
BCLC began its annual Gift Smart public-information campaign this month to encourage responsible play and gift giving through online, radio and social media outreach. The campaign is in partnership with the National Council on Problem Gambling.
“BCLC encourages parents to start a conversation with their children about the risks associated with gambling and during the holiday season, we’re reminding everyone not to stuff kids’ stockings with lottery products of any kind,” said a press release from BCLC.
The lottery corporation’s player-health programs recently received international recognition — it achieved the World Lottery Association’s (WLA) level four certification for excellence in responsible gambling programming for the fourth consecutive time. According to the press release, Level four is the highest level of certification granted by the WLA’s Independent Assessment Panel (IAP) under the Responsible Gambling Framework.
BCLC is one of 13 lottery jurisdictions in North America to achieve the certification — in its evaluation report, the IAP noted that BCLC’s “Player Education program is by far meeting the highest standards in the field.”
