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DCMS to consult on charity lottery limits

Fundraising | Becky Slack | 17 Sep 2008

Charities and local community groups that run lotteries are being urged to participate in two consultations, in order to determine both the amount of money that can be raised and the amount that can be given away as the top prize.

Currently the maximum amount societies are permitted to raise in a single draw is £2m, but the government is recommending that this figure be raised to £4m.

As the Gambling Act provides that a person buying a society lottery ticket cannot win more than 10 per cent of the overall proceeds of the draw, this change would also mean societies can offer a higher top prize of up to £400,000 per draw.

Both the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and the Gambling Commission are running separate consultations on the changes.

The DCMS is asking whether the proposed doubling of the limit is appropriate and adequate, while the Gambling Commission is consulting on whether, subject to approval by Parliament, the Commission should increase the limit to that set in the resulting Order. It has powers to restrict any limit supplied by government.

“Justification for a limited increase”

The consultations follow the publication of a written statement by sports minister Gerry Sutcliffe on 16 July, in which he says “there is a reasonable justification for limited increase in the maximum proceeds that society lotteries may raise in a single lottery draw”.

Sutcliffe has been under considerable pressure from the Lotteries Council and the Hospices Lotteries Association since 2001 to review the limit.

The pressure was increased further in May of this year when 70 MPs on all sides of parliament signed an Early Day Motion tabled by David Crausby, MP for Bolton North East.

“We’re pleased they have seen fit to increase the limit and very much welcome that,” said Clive Mollet, chair of the Lotteries Council, the trade body for organisations that run lotteries.

“However, despite the law stating that limits of this kind of gambling activity should be reviewed every three years, it’s taken us seven years to get to where we are now.

“We would therefore encourage anyone with any interest in lotteries to make their views known on both consultations while they have the opportunity.”

Super Draw

If the government and Gambling Commission agree to raise the limit, it could open the door to a new ‘Super Draw’ run by a coalition of up to 100 hospices.

The idea of a Super Draw was first mooted over a year ago and would see a number of hospices pooling the prize funds they use in their one-off special annual draws in order to offer a national top prize of £100,000.

“We estimate that if we combine forces and put on one national hospice lottery raffle it would reduce administration costs while raising more money than the individual local hospice lotteries do via their own draws,” said Garth Caswell, chair of the Hospice Lotteries Association.

“And it will retain the local vote because we have the technology that will allow us to recognise how much money was raised in each area via the ticket sales.”

Lotteries are big business for hospices with many relying on ticket sales for as much as 50 per cent of their overall income.

Ty Hafan hospice in Wales, for example, has 37,000 people playing in its weekly lotteries, which generate a profit of £1.2m a year for the organisation.

To participate in the DCMS consultation, click here.
To participate in the Gambling Commission consultation click here.

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