Camelot has lost their case against the Desmond health lottery- though they will appeal.
Our fear has always been that the Health Lottery would reduce the amount of money going to charity by damaging the National Lottery, which gives a higher proportion of its revenue to good causes; 28p in the pound not 20p.
We believed, as the Commons select committee has said, that this was the opposite of parliament's intention, and that either loopholes in the law needed closing, or the Gambling Commission was not enforcing the law properly.
The fact that the courts have ruled that the Gambling Commission was properly enforcing the law means that the law itself contains loopholes and these needs to be urgently closed.
So we are demanding that the Government act now- the potential for other competitors to the National Lottery to enter the market and give less to charity has now increased.
The truth is that it is no longer tenable for the Government to sit on the fence and pass the buck to the regulator or the courts. Ministers must make a decision, and act to enforce the intention of parliament and to protect charitable income in the UK. DCMS have been sitting on their hands it is time to get off them and act.
Let's remember that last year the National Lottery gave £270m to health charities. They also gave £279m to sports charities.
How ironic, given our Olympic success if the amount that the national lottery gave to staging the Olympics and to developing sports generally was to be damaged in the future by allowing competition that means organisers give less money to good causes and take more in profit.
The National Lottery has raised £28 billion for good causes since it was set up. Good causes across the board for charities up and down the country. It is worth defending.
Our fear has always been that the Health Lottery would reduce the amount of money going to charity by damaging the National Lottery, which gives a higher proportion of its revenue to good causes; 28p in the pound not 20p.
We believed, as the Commons select committee has said, that this was the opposite of parliament's intention, and that either loopholes in the law needed closing, or the Gambling Commission was not enforcing the law properly.
The fact that the courts have ruled that the Gambling Commission was properly enforcing the law means that the law itself contains loopholes and these needs to be urgently closed.
So we are demanding that the Government act now- the potential for other competitors to the National Lottery to enter the market and give less to charity has now increased.
The truth is that it is no longer tenable for the Government to sit on the fence and pass the buck to the regulator or the courts. Ministers must make a decision, and act to enforce the intention of parliament and to protect charitable income in the UK. DCMS have been sitting on their hands it is time to get off them and act.
Let's remember that last year the National Lottery gave £270m to health charities. They also gave £279m to sports charities.
How ironic, given our Olympic success if the amount that the national lottery gave to staging the Olympics and to developing sports generally was to be damaged in the future by allowing competition that means organisers give less money to good causes and take more in profit.
The National Lottery has raised £28 billion for good causes since it was set up. Good causes across the board for charities up and down the country. It is worth defending.
1 comment:
Absolutely spot on. The so-called Health Lottery gives less to Charities,is a money making exercise for Desmond nad has a very obscure method of awarding grants.
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