The National Lottery Regulator is urging adults not to gift scratchcards to children this Christmas.
It comes as the independent office carried out a recent mystery shop operation, which saw almost three in ten stores willing to sell scratchcards to under 18s.
National Lottery Regulator Carol Boate said National Lottery tickets and scratchcards are not appropriate Christmas gifts for under 18s - no matter how well intentioned the purchaser might be.
"We know childhood gambling can lead to a range of harms and increases your chances of experiencing gambling problems as an adult," she explained.
"It's therefore vital that all adults are mindful of their responsibility to protect children by avoiding gifting them scratchcards this Christmas," she added.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
Ipsos B&A ran the mystery shopper programme with 15 to 17 year olds who did not go through with the purchase.
72% of locations across the country refused to sell to someone under 18 - up from 62% in 2018.
However, there were regional discrepancies with just 57% of retailers in Dublin refusing sale to an underage shopper - the lowest refusal rate in the country.
The Regulator said it now expects the National Lottery's Operator, Premier Lotteries Ireland (PLI), to take further action to drive an increase in compliance with the law by its retailers.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
It plans to carry out further mystery shop research in order to achieve full retailer compliance.
PLI acknowledged the findings of the latest mystery shop survey, and agreed there is still more work to do.
"PLI is, and continues to be, committed to operating a world-class lottery for the people of Ireland, raising important funds for Good Causes, while at the same time applying best-in-class player protection controls both in retail stores and online, and working collaboratively with all stakeholders to ensure this happens," it said in a statement.
"PLI has a rigorous retailer compliance policy in place and undertakes regular audits and mystery shopper campaigns of its retail agents," it added.
Since 2018, PLI has implemented a 'Think 21' policy, requiring all retail staff to ask for photo ID from anyone who appears to be under the age of 21.
As part of this policy, PLI also undertakes its own mystery shop exercises to assess compliance amongst retailers.
