About

Previously owned by the Irish State, in 2014 control of the Irish National Lottery was turned over to Premier Lotteries Ireland (PLI) after a deficit in the government’s budget required the sale of some specific assets. With the change in ownership, a new legal department was established within PLI in 2015. The in-house legal and regulatory affairs team, currently headed by Jenny Fisher, contains two lawyers providing support to the myriad of issues the national lottery encounters. Having successfully avoided the perception of being a ‘blocker’ within the business, Fisher explains how the team was accepted as an ‘integral enabler to achieving business goals’. The way that the new function was recognised in a short timespan serves as a huge endorsement of their quality and effort. Encapsulating their central role within the organisation, PLI’s legal and regulatory function is central to any decision making process within the business – whether it is dealing with crisis management and communications, business development or the roll out of new projects. The team’s innovation and flexibility has also been impressive, Fisher cites how ‘new ways of working have been adopted’ in order to meet changing regulatory requirements whilst also streamlining the approval process. A combination of new regulation and the 2014 change to private ownership has thrown up the opportunity for the team to develop and think “outside the box”, which Fisher claims is ‘fundamental for the development and growth of a new company like PLI’. Summing up the team’s role as ‘being able to provide technical legal advice with a pragmatic commercial focus and ultimately seeing the results of that advice’, the PLI legal and regulatory team demonstrate their ability as a multi-skilled and innovative function, crucial for the smooth operation of the Irish National Lottery’s business entity.