Last year, the ORNL commissioned its second underage mystery shop, to examine the retail sector’s compliance with rules governing the sale of National Lottery products to under 18s.
It followed a similar exercise in 2018.
The findings, which are contained in the regulator’s annual report for 2024, show that that 72% of the mystery shoppers were denied a sale when attempting to buy a €1 scratchcard.
It compares to a figure of 62% during the previous survey.
71% of the retail outlets challenged the young shoppers, up from 63% in 2018.
The number of retailers displaying the mandatory “18+” signage also increased, from 73% to 92% in 2024.
The test purchasers, who were boys and girls aged between 15 and 17 years old, visited 562 retail premises, as part of the research carried out by Ipsos B & A.
“While this progress is encouraging, the results clearly show there is still significant room for improvement in terms of age challenge and sale refusal to under-18s,” the report said.
The office said it has required the operator of the National Lottery, Premier Lotteries Ireland (PLI), to “take tougher actions to drive an increase in awareness and compliance with the law by its retailers.”
Regulator of the National Lottery, Carol Boate, said the 2024 mystery shop exercise is “part of the process we have undertaken to identify where risks exist so we can tackle them.”
She said the results “clearly show that while great progress has been made since the 2018 mystery shop, there is still room for improvement in terms of age challenge and sale refusal to under 18s.”
“While it is welcome that more retailers have “18+” signage in store and more staff are challenging test purchasers than in 2018 it is concerning that nearly three in 10 shops visited were still prepared to sell products to minors,” she said.
Ms Boate said the regulator will work with PLI and retailers to “build on the progress made to date and adopt a zero-tolerance attitude towards the sale of age-restricted products to children.”
