Excuse the tongue-twister headline, but we wanted to draw your
attention to the important changes have been made to Northern
Ireland (NI) I gambling law by the Betting, Gaming,
Lotteries and Amusements (Amendment) Act (Northern Ireland)
2022, which came into force last month.
The new legislation amends the current law to make it clear that
'newspaper games of chance', including prize draws, are
legal in NI so long as there's no payment required from
entrants to participate.
The new legislation helpfully makes it clear that buying goods
at their normal price, including newspapers, won't count as
payment to participate.
This means that the “No Purchase Necessary”
qualification, so often made in the past to deal with the different
legal landscape in Northern Ireland, can now be dropped from a
UK-wide prize draw, provided that no other payment is required to
participate in the draw.
