Phone-In TV Games Should Count As Gambling
Phone-in television games should count as gambling and the industry needs stronger guidlines, according to Nick Rust, of Sky Bet.
MPs have heard that TV quiz shows can charge viewers as much as 75p for phone calls even if they do not get through and they are a “lottery” not a test of skill.
The Commons culture committee was told some channels lured players with easy questions and big prizes, without stating only 0.5% of calls get through.
If phone-in television games were reclassified, they would be “properly regulated”, Rust told MPs.
The government has warned against a “knee-jerk” reaction to concern about phone-in quizzes, with MPs investigating whether the public is being given enough information on the cost of calls, the chances of winning and the size of phone bills.
Martin Le Jeune, BSkyB’s head of public affairs, told the BBC: “Our concern at the moment is that regulation is not quite keeping pace with these developments.”
Shari Vahl, from BBC Radio 4’s consumer show You and Yours, said one woman had spent £1,500 in a month on calls. She also suggested that programmes could get about 200 calls per minute, making the chance of getting through to the studio very small.
But David Brook, co-founder of the production company Optimistic Entertainment, said only a “small minority” of viewers had a problem with spending too much money on calling lines. “We don’t wish to encourage people to make multiple calls,” he added.
The quiz phone-in industry is monitored by broadcasting watchdog Ofcom and telephone regulator ICSTIS. City of London Police are involved in an on-going fraud probe, the MPs heard.
Broadcasting minister Shaun Woodward said the government would introduce more regulation if this was deemed “proportional” to the problem, but industry self-regulation would be “quicker, more flexible and more likely to work”.
Woodward said that “realistically, when we take part in these programmes, you know that the odds are stacked against you”.
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