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30 charities sign up to relaunched PlayMonday lottery

Fundraising | Gemma Ware | 1 Jun 2007

PlayMonday relaunched last night as a fixed odds game with 30 charity partners signed up to the new version of the charity lottery.

NetPlay TV, the interactive gaming company that bought the lottery from its previous operators Chariot in February, also revealed it was in talks with two terrestrial television companies about the possibility of securing a spot to screen PlayMonday's live draw.

Although 25 charities including Macmillan Cancer Support and St John's Ambulance are still considering whether to rejoin the scheme, 30 have now agreed to sign the contract, including Breast Cancer Campaign, Born Free Foundation and WellChild.

The new fixed odds version of the game, which offers players the chance to win a jackpot of £10m, has already provided a boost to ticket sales.

Mark Cooper, managing director of lotteries at NetPlay TV, said just under 50,000 people had played the game this week, which was "90 per cent up on last week's ticket sales". Cooper said this translated into around £10,000 going to charity.

The game relaunched with a new, half-hour version of its television show, currently aired on Sky Channel 163, otherwise known as Hollywood TV. The Born Free Foundation was the first charity to feature on the show, which included an interview with the charity's chief executive Will Travers. In a new section of the TV show, a phone-in game allowed contestants to play a 'Yes/No' game for the chance to win money for themselves and for the Born Free Foundation, which received £400.

Angeline Swan, senior marketing coordinator at the Born Free Foundation, said the charity was excited to be part of the relaunched game. "I think there's been a lot of positive changes made that will make it easier for our supporters to play the game," she said.

However, following decisions by WWF and the British Red Cross to withdraw from PlayMonday after its move to a fixed odds game, six charities including Mencap and PDSA have decided not to sign up.

Michael Naidu, head of donor marketing at Mencap, said: "In its current form, we feel that the Netplay TV proposal will only be effective if each charity markets PlayMonday heavily to its supporters and contacts. We have set ourselves high income targets from our donors and feel that any additional marketing could put these donations at risk."

Imran Kali, legal advisor at Macmillan, said: "At the moment we're still debating with the idea. As far as we see it, the contract has to be considered a lot more."

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Directory: British Red Cross | NetPlay TV | World Wildlife Fund UK (WWF UK)