Calls for Government to Scrap £50million Limit on Charity Lotteries

People’s Postcode Lottery warns good causes in Britain could miss out on £200million in just the next five year.

• People’s Postcode Lottery supports more than 70 major charities.
• Red tape on ticket sales has been in place since 1960s, limiting amount raised.

UNITED KINGDOM (June 11, 2023) — According to local media reports it has been claimed that good causes nationwide stand to miss out on almost £200 million over the next five years because of a ‘needless’ legal limit on the amounts that charity lotteries can raise.

The ‘Mail on Sunday‘ reported the People’s Postcode Lottery, which supports more than 70 major charities, believes it could hand out an extra £198 million if the Government slashed the red tape on ticket sales that has been in place since the 1960s.

Players of the popular lottery have raised more than £1 billion since 2005, benefiting thousands of charities. Last year alone more than £183 million went to good causes, from major cancer and homelessness charities to community projects.

Ahead of a crunch meeting with Sport, Tourism, Heritage and Civil Society Minister Stuart Andrew next month, leading charities and People’s Postcode Lottery are urging the Government to act quickly to scrap the £50 million limit on ticket sales, calling it ‘frustrating’.

The Gambling Commission has already admitted being ‘unable to uncover any reference as to why these limits were put in place’ on the charity lottery sector.

Among regular beneficiaries of donations generated by People’s Postcode Lottery ticket sales, it is estimated that Royal Voluntary Service and children’s charity Barnardo’s could both receive boosts of more than £5 million over five years if the limit was abandoned.

Cancer charities Maggie’s and Young Lives vs Cancer could gain an extra £4.3 million, while homelessness charities Crisis and Depaul would get another £5.3 million and £4.9 million respectively.

Keep Britain Tidy would receive £1.7 million more and Magic Breakfast, which supports breakfast clubs in schools across the country, would gain up to £1 million.

No other type of charity fundraising suffers similar limitations, says People’s Postcode Lottery.

But after raising the annual sales limit from £10 million to £50 million in 2020, critics say the Government has been slow to react to support from across Parliament to remove the ceiling altogether, despite the obvious benefits which would come at no cost to the Treasury.

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SOURCE: The Mail on Sunday.