U.K. phone-in quiz now a lottery

The U.K. Gambling Commission will announce its ruling that the popular phone-in quiz games will be classified as lottery.

U.K. phone-in quiz now a lottery The games ask you a pretty simple question and then people phone-in or text message their answers, competing for a price. The Gambling Commission is taking the stance that this games, due to their ease of questions could hardly be a skill game, and should be classified as lotteries. Under U.K. gambling law, that would force the TV stations to donate 5% from the proceeds to charities. People under 18 years old will be banned from participating in the quiz phone-ins.

A big controversy involving the phone-in quiz games led the Gambling Commission to investigate the games, after it was proven that many viewers have been cheated. It has been discovered that some broadcasters have chosen winners before the shows end, and others have failed to notify the viewers that competitions have ended, thus the prizes are not longer available.

Many of the U.K. broadcasters are already seeing a drop in revenues due to the scandal.

05/21/2007