The Paradox Between Giving and Gambling: Analysing Blame Avoidance and Accountability in the UK’s National Lottery

The aim of this paper is to explore the relationship between blame avoidance and accountability within the context of the National Lottery, considering the tensions that exist between the Lottery’s contribution to gambling harms whilst at the same time raising money for good causes. The focus of the study is the third licensing period of the National Lottery (2009-2024). The aims of the paper are achieved through an analysis of two linked public inquiries: one by the Public Accounts Committee (2018) and the other by the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee in the House of Commons (2022). The paper draws on the seminal work of Hood (2010) on the blame game to identify the key players and strategies of blame avoidance to extend our understanding of the relationship between blame avoidance and accountability (Egbon & Mgbame, 2020; Pellinen et al., 2018; Skærbæk & Christensen, 2020). More specifically, the paper considers how key players in public inquiries into the National Lottery attempt to remove themselves from potential accountability for social harms using blame avoidance and blame shifting strategies.