Kickstart Your WLA Submission: What Your Lottery Needs to Know Before October 1st

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Keeping your WLA membership now depends on Responsible Gaming certification. In our latest webinar, digitalRG CEO Laura Da Silva was joined by Mélissa Azam of the World Lottery Association and Valencia Wagner of the North Carolina Education Lottery to explain what has changed, how the certification process works and how to get your submission moving. Here are the key points.

Certification is now a condition of WLA membership

At the WLA general meeting in October 2024, the membership voted to make Responsible Gaming certification, at Level 2 as a minimum, a condition of WLA membership. To be clear, Level 2 in Responsible Gaming is all you need to keep your membership. Levels 3 and 4 are voluntary. As Mélissa Azam put it in her message to attendees, it is no longer a recommendation or an aspiration. If your lottery is not certified, it is at risk of losing its membership.
 

Submissions are assessed twice a year, on 1 May and 1 October. The May round has passed, which makes 1 October the final opportunity before the General Assembly at the World Lottery Summit in Sydney, 9 to 12 November 2026, where lotteries without certification will have their membership removed.

The decision to protect your WLA membership probably sits with your CEO, but the work is likely to sit with you. Once they understand what is at stake, you will have all the support you need.

The three levels at a glance

Every submission is made through the digitalRG platform and reviewed by the WLA Independent Assessment Panel. There are three levels you can submit for.

• Level 2 is an honest gap analysis. You show where you stand and where the gaps are. You do not need to be perfect to submit.
• Level 3 builds on that with a defined action plan. You show exactly how and when you will close each gap, with progress already under way.
• Level 4 is independently verified. An approved auditor checks your evidence before you submit, and the focus shifts to KPIs, impact and continuous improvement.

In every case, the decision sits with the Independent Assessment Panel, a group of researchers and former operators chaired by Anne Pattberg, who helped develop the WLA Responsible Gaming Framework itself. They are experts, and what they want is evidence. Assertions without proof will not get through.
 

Advice from a Level 4 lottery

Valencia Wagner, Corporate Social Responsibility Analyst at the North Carolina Education Lottery, has been through the process at the highest level. Her advice: start as soon as possible, stay organised, break the work into tasks, complete one element fully before hopping around, and treat the submission as a group project with a champion in every department.

Three things to remember

• 1 October is the last submission window before Sydney. Tell your CEO this week.
• The work for Level 2 is smaller than it looks. Plan it, break it down and learn from others.
• Start today. Request your platform login and begin your gap analysis this month.
   

Ready to get started?

digitalRG supports lotteries and suppliers through every WLA certification, from first gap analysis to Level 4. Book a call with our team to find the right fit for your lottery.