The Institute of Fundraising, The Lotteries Council and Hospice Lotteries Association have written a joint letter to the minister for sport and civil society, calling for the fundraising limits on society lotteries to be raised to £100m.
The letter addressed to Tracey Crouch, minister for sport and civil society, says that the “£10m annual turnover limit” placed on society lotteries is “already having the effect of some charities receiving less money for good causes than in previous years”.
It also said that recent figures from the Gambling Commission “made clear that society lotteries have had no significant impact on National Lottery sales”.
The three organisations have also called on the government to “increase the permissible amount of ticket sales for a single draw from £4m to £10m”; “increase prize values from £25,000 to £100,000” for lotteries with less than £250,000 in a draw and “allow the aggregation of the 20 per cent minimum charity contribution rule over an extended period for newly created lotteries".
Changes would 'reduce administration costs'
A spokesman from The Lotteries Council said the proposed changes would “help reduce administration costs, allow individual society lotteries to raise more funds for good causes and make the operation of the sector less complicated”.
The letter was jointly signed by Jo Bucci, chair of The Lotteries Council, Peter Lewis, chief executive of the IoF and David Griffiths, vice chair of the Hospice Lotteries Association.
It was sent to Crouch on 25 March 2018 to mark “three years to the day” since the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee published a 2015 report on society lotteries which supported raising fundraising limits.
Peter Lewis said: “The changes on society lotteries that we proposed to government and parliament three years ago would have a direct impact on helping charities raise more money to deliver more for their beneficiaries and causes.
“The current limits are starting to bite and impact on the effectiveness and efficiency of society lotteries and we urge the Government to move forward with the consultation as soon as possible.”
Bucci said: "Three years on from the committee report, we urge the government to finally bring forward plans to raise these fundraising limits.
"Whilst we appreciate that the government needs to give due consideration to any changes to the law, its progress on this has been slow. It is especially unfortunate given that every month that passes, these fundraising restrictions are impacting on the money that goes to good causes".
Society lotteries raised more than £208m for good causes between April 2015 and March 2016. This was a more than 10 per cent increase on the previous year, and more than double what the sector raised between 2009 and 2010.
Government promises consultation paper 'shortly'
In response to a question from Ben Lake MP on 22 March, Tracey Crouch said in the House of Commons that the DCMS was considering its position on raising fundraising limits for society lotteries and “will be publishing a consultation paper shortly”.
The current annual turnover limits on society lotteries date from 2005, while the current draw limits date from 2009.
DCMS have not responded to request for a comment.
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