News
Government publishes Consultation response
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On 16 July 2019, the Government published its long-awaited response to the consultation on society lottery reform conducted in summer 2018.
The Government announced that the annual sales limit would be increased from £10m to £50m. While this is a step in the right direction and is welcomed, the Council has been campaigning for an increase to £100m. The Minister advised that they will be considering an “additional licence tier” under which holders could operate under an annual limit of £100m, but subject to further licence conditions. The Council awaits this proposal with interest.
The limit for individual draws will be raised from £4m to £5m. Again, this is welcomed but is lower than the Council has been campaigning for.
The maximum prize limit will be increased in line with the individual draw limit, to £500,000 retaining the cap of a maximum of 10% of sales. The Council has been campaigning for the abolition of the 10% cap to enable charities to decide on their own prize structures, subject to a limit of £1m on the maximum prize.
The limits above which small society lotteries have to register with the Gambling Commission remain unchanged and there was no mention of any relaxation of the 20% rule for start-ups, for which the Council has also been campaigning.
The full text of the Government’s response can be found here.
The Council’s press release following the announcement can be found here.
Conference 2019
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The Hilton Warwick was the venue for the recent ‘Lotteries Council Annual Conference and Networking Event 2019’. This annual event continues to afford members the opportunity to listen and learn from sector specialists, speak to suppliers in an exhibitor’s area and network with other organisations within the lotteries sector. The Gambling Commission also facilitate speaker sessions and workshops throughout the two-day conference, providing invaluable advice and information.
We are delighted to announce that Gatherwell were the winners of the ‘Lottery of the Year’ Award, whilst the ‘Special Recognition’ Award was presented to Sue Whitehouse of East Midlands Health CIC. Congratulations to the winners.
The photo gallery from the event is available here
The event was sponsored by Jumbo Interactive - https://www.jumbointeractive.com/
Lotteries Council welcomes record year of charity fundraising
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Lotteries Council welcomes record year of charity fundraising
New Gambling Commission stats show growth in good cause funding from both charity lotteries and the National Lottery
The Lotteries Council has today welcomed a record year of fundraising by charity lotteries as the Gambling Commission published their annual statistics showing that the sector raised £296 million in the year to March 2018, up from £256 million last year.
The Council also welcomed that fundraising by the National Lottery is also growing again, alongside a growth in fundraising by charity lotteries – confirming once again that both sectors grow together – as they have done for most of the last decade.
The statistics also show an increase in the percentage to good causes from society lotteries – at 43.8% - up from 43.5% last year – and in increase in the percentage to good causes from the National Lottery, at 21.7% - up from 21.5% last year.
Welcoming the record year of fundraising Lotteries Council Chair, Tony Vick, praised players of charity lotteries for helping raise a record amount and said that the growth in good causes funding across both charity lotteries and the National Lottery was a “win-win” for the country.
The Lotteries Council, which is made up over 400 charity lottery organisations across Great Britain, has been encouraging the UK Government to increase the outdated fundraising limits which charity lotteries operate under, in order to help them further reduce administration costs and excess bureaucracy, and raise even more for good causes
Commenting Mr Vick said:
“This has been a great year of charity fundraising by charity lotteries, with charities across the country benefitting as a result. Our thanks go to charity lottery players across Britain who have helped the sector make a record amount for good causes.
“The charity lottery sector has a huge amount of fundraising talent within it – both staff and volunteers – and charities such as hospices, air ambulances, community groups and sports teams benefit as a result. Given the tough charity fundraising climate this growth in income is very welcome.
“We also welcome that both charity lottery funding and National Lottery funding is on a growth trajectory, which is a “win-win” for the country and makes clear that both types of lottery can grow together.
Malcolm Fleming, Chair of The Lotteries Council Public Affairs Committee, added:
“It is clear from these statistics that the drop in National Lottery funding in 2016-17 – caused by the changes to the Lotto draw – is being reversed. This is something that The Lotteries Council warmly welcomes.”
“That National Lottery good cause funding is back on a growth trajectory again, alongside a growth in charity lottery good cause funding, backs up recent Gambling Commission modelling which showed that charity lottery sales don’t impact on the National Lottery.
“The Lotteries Council is calling on the UK Government to bring forward changes in the law to help charity lotteries to grow their funding to good causes, and these latest statistics further strengthen the case for those changes.”
Lotteries Council call for Government to ‘future-proof’ Society Lottery limits
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As you might know the Government is consulting on changes to the amount of money society lotteries can raise for good causes.
Whilst we were encouraged by the broad thrust of the Government’s plans, we would like them to go a little further in order to enable charities to raise money over the longer term.
As such, we are calling on the Government to:
• Increase the Annual Sales Limit to £100 million worth of tickets. This will help reduce administration costs and allow more funds to go to charities that society lotteries support.
• Increase the maximum prize limit to £1 million, regardless of sales. This will still be well below the prizes offered by the National Lottery, but will allow society lotteries the flexibility to use higher prizes if desired, in order to increase sales and therefore raise more money for good causes.
• Increase the per Draw Sales Limit to £10 million worth of tickets, regardless of the maximum prize limit. This will safeguard society lotteries for the long term and help them avoid unnecessary costs.
• Reduce the regulatory burden on small society lotteries (currently defined as having proceeds of less than £20,000 per draw and £250,000 per year) by raising the sales thresholds to £40,000 per draw and £500,000 per year.
• Allow new lotteries to aggregate their returns to good causes over a three year period to enable them to meet the statutory 20% to good causes but take into account sizeable start-up costs.
Our response to the consultation including arguments for each of these calls can be found here
New Lotteries Council Chair
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The new chair of The Lotteries Council will be Tony Vick, Director of the 51 Community Interest Companies which were formed to address health inequalities across Great Britain and which raise money through The Health Lottery scheme.
The Lotteries Council is the body that supports a range of fundraisers who run lotteries and supports them on legal, regulatory and compliance issues.
Mr Vick said: “It is a real privilege to have been elected Chair of the Lotteries Council. The Council is a tremendous day to day forum and support mechanism for those working in the sector. In recent years, the Council has also been at the forefront of important activity to speed up and improve society lottery reforms to enable much more money to be raised for good causes.
I am delighted to be leading the organisation and look forward to continuing the good work of my distinguished predecessors.”
President of The Lotteries Council, Lord Mancroft, said: "This is an important announcement at this pivotal time for the charity lottery sector. The Lotteries Council continues to have a dialogue with government and is pushing for deregulation to allow us all to raise even more money for good causes. Tony Vick has been a director of the Lotteries Council for a number of years and is well qualified to lead the voice of our sector and continue the important work of previous Chairs.”
Mr Vick has been a Finance Director in the not-for-profit healthcare sector for over 25 years, working at organisations such as the Royal Masonic Hospital, the Hospital of St John & St Elizabeth (incorporating St John’s Hospice) and The Hospital Management Trust. As well as having responsibilities for finance and IT, he has regularly been involved in fundraising at a senior level. For the last few years, he has been Director of the 51 Community Interest Companies which were formed to address health inequalities throughout Great Britain and raise money to do so by operating lotteries under the banner of “The Health Lottery”.
For more information on The Lotteries Council please visit www.lotteriescouncil.org.uk