It was one of the scandals of the year but now a ruling body in the UK will reclassify phone ins on British TV shows.

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

The games ask you a very simple question and then people phone-in or text message their answers competing for a prize. The revenue growth model has been adopted by every kind of live show in Britain in recent years but the latest ruling will severely affect certain broadcasters in how they can promote the gimmick.

 The Gambling Commission is taking the stance that this game due to their ease of questions could hardly be a skill game. Instead they say phone ins 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 no longer available.

Many of the U.K. broadcasters are already seeing a drop in revenues due to the scandal.
The ruling could especially affect specific quiz tv shows though industry insiders say there are ways of making the games more skill based without radically increasing the level of difficulty for viewers.

ITV says that a string of high-profile scandals surrounding premium rate phone lines has hit the number of people using their services knocking revenues.
A lack of consumer confidence had led to a 20% fall in income from the phone lines in March and April, it said.