NCVO has said that there is not enough evidence available to agree with the Institute of Fundraising’s call to substantially increase the size of society lotteries.
The umbrella body yesterday released its submission to the Department of Culture, Media and Sport’s call for evidence on society lotteries, The National Lottery and other gambling for good causes, published in December.
NCVO’s submission came the day after the Institute of Fundraising, along with several other organisations, called on the DCMS to make regulations on society lotteries more liberal.
Among the IoF’s submissions was a suggestion that the DCMS increase a cap on the maximum that can be raised in a year by a society lottery, from £10m to £100m. They argue this would enable bigger charities to reach economies of scale and maximise fundraising.
NCVO said while they believe the cap should be raised, it should only go up in line with year on year inflation since the issue was last visited in the Gambling Act 2005.
“By taking the increase of inflation into account since 2005, £10m would now be worth £13.3m. We would also recommend increasing the annual lottery proceeds cap by a projection of inflation over the next five years to £15.2m per calendar year,” the response said.
NCVO argue that raising the cap any more would damage public perceptions of society lotteries and the part they play in helping charities raise funds for good causes.
“We are concerned that such considerable changes could have an impact on the way the public views society lotteries, and in turn the charities associated with them.”
Instead of outright increasing ticket sales and prize money, NCVO’s submission outlines a number of ways in which lotteries could increase the amount of money going towards good causes, without completely overhauling the current system.
NCVO suggest that, in order to make starting a lottery easier for smaller organisations, the start-up process ought to be simplified. They call on the DCMS to remove the need for small charities to consult with an External Lottery Manager, as the costs of consulting one “are deducted from the overall proceeds of a lottery” which otherwise would go to good causes.
They also suggest allowing organisations starting a lottery to “spread the 20 per cent statutory contribution to good causes over a year” instead of up-front. Yet, where the IoF called for new lotteries to be allowed to spread their contributions over three years, NCVO “would expect that within the second year of operation lotteries are able to meet the 20 per cent minimum contribution at every draw.”
