NATIONAL LOTTERY

Page 1 | 2 | 3
 

The National Lottery was supposed to be 'A Good Thing'. But as people eventually realised that they had more chance of seeing the Pope in a porn film than answering the door to the Camelot rep, ticket sales have plummeted along with the prize money available. And then came the scandal of where the loot creamed off for "good causes" actually went. In the last seven years, ex-servicemen's charities have received a total of £1m in handouts from the Lottery's Community Fund.

In the same period, over £68m has gone to organisations involved with asylum seekers and refugees, £18m of that in the last year alone. Does such a distribution of wealth remotely represent the wishes of the Great British Public who coughed up that money in the first place? Especially when you look in detail at where the money has actually gone. Stonewall, the gay charity, copped for £1.5m. The London Lesbian and Gay Switchboard got £200,000 to set up a nationwide network of gay helplines.

Why are we spending £478,585 through something called Helpage International to "improve the status of old people in Central and South America"? What about the bloody status of old people in this country? And why are we spending £395,000 to improve consumer rights in Eastern Europe, £262,216 to promote disabled rights in West Africa, £258,000 to help Rwandans make a living from pottery, £255,028 to monitor human rights in Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan and £200,000 to improve the lives of Bolivian miners?

And what did the Action Group for Irish Youth do with the £204,459 given to them to "investigate the welfare of Irish travellers in Britain"? The Blue Cross animal charity got £180,421 to expand a telephone helpline for people mourning a pet, while the Scottish Prostitutes Education Service got £81,553 to give vice girls aromatherapy massages. Meanwhile the Leeds Wounded Warriors Welfare Committee can't get £80.000 for a new coach to take ex-servicemen on days out.

More than a quarter of people who play the National Lottery say it does not represent value for money. Among those who refuse to play, almost two-thirds said the small chance of winning was the main reason they never bought a ticket. The results come from a survey of 2,023 adults carried out for the National Lottery Commission. A third of those questioned said they had not played the Lottery since its launch in 1994. Among this group, 65% said the small chance of winning was their reason for abstaining. Concern about the effects of gambling was expressed by 39%.

But 73% of those who regularly played the National Lottery said it was good value for money. Young people were the least likely to play Lottery games, with only 17% of 16 to 24-year-olds saying they played regularly. This contrasts with around half of over 35-year-olds polled. Brian Pomeroy, chairman of the Lottery Commission, said, "This independent survey offers us valuable insights into the behaviour and attitudes of players. It is encouraging that so many players regard Lotto tickets as value for money. Although many say they may stop playing if prices were to go up, very few regard the current price of a ticket as a reason for not playing the Lottery."

More than £2billion of Lottery cash for good causes will be siphoned off to fund the 2012 Olympics if London's bid is successful. Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell is drafting emergency laws to tap into almost all the money which currently goes to community projects, voluntary groups and schools. Only health projects and local cancer screening will be protected from the cash drain. The decision will raise an outcry among community and voluntary groups, many of whom would not survive without Lottery funds. The key years when the money will be directed will be 2008 to 2011.

Staging the games is expected to cost at least £4.5billion, with £2.5billion of that due to come from public funds. The other £2billion will be met by the International Olympic Committee, sponsorship and TV rights. The public cost will be shared with Mayor Ken Livingstone's Greater London Authority - but the bulk will come from Lottery funding. A final decision on whether the Government will bid for the games has been held up because the Prime Minister has been spending so much time dealing with the prospect of war with Iraq.

But both he and Chancellor Gordon Brown are understood to be keen for Britain to host the games for the first time since 1948. However, funding is in doubt without the raid on good causes funds to get the games off the ground in time for 2012. Lottery operator Camelot unveiled games to raise £750 million towards the cost of staging the games. The company, which is trying to boost sales, also announced more draws and a European game with jackpots of up to £30 million. And it said it wants people to be able to play games over the Internet, via mobile phones and through interactive TV. Among the proposed Olympics games is a weekly draw with 30,000 prizes, ranging from £20 to £200,000, and a twice-yearly "Olympic Mega Draw" with over £27 million in prizes, plus 25,000 other incentives such as Olympic holiday packages.

Lottery chiefs are paying out £400,000 to help asylum seekers fill in forms to claim benefits and housing. The grant is designed to ease the "extreme problems" faced by refugees who win the right to stay here. In recent years, The Big Lottery Fund has handed out hundreds of thousands of pounds to help battered wives in Siberia and to a pressure group for prostitutes. Its £402,200 payment to the North of England Refugee Service is to help successful asylum seekers complete paperwork for subsidised housing and benefits. It is part of more than £2.1million in lottery cash sent to asylum organisations over the past year. More than £75million has been pumped into asylum causes since the lottery began 12 years ago. Asylum seekers are given housing and benefits by the National Asylum Support Service but many decline the housing because they would rather live in London than in areas such as the North-East where the homes are provided. (Source: Daily Mail, Aug/07)

The Government could be prepared to nationalise the National Lottery, according to Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell. Ms Jowell said that she was "seriously considering" bringing the lottery under state control. "I am very interested in exploring that possibility. We are seriously considering it," she said. Her comments, which come against a background of falling sales and a fall in revenues for the good causes, will alarm Camelot, which currently has the lottery franchise. However Ms Jowell stressed that the Government's priority was to secure the "public good" and minimise the sums being "creamed off" by the operator. "What matters about the lottery is that it works for the public good, that it represents good value for money and that the minimum amount of money is being creamed off to meet costs." So, the government could soon be running the National Lottery as efficiently as it runs the NHS!

Next >>>