New community lottery on the cards for Lichfield
Residents wanting to support community groups and charities in Lichfield could soon have the chance to win a £25,000 windfall of their own at the same time.
A new community lottery is being proposed for the district, which would give local groups an opportunity to raise funds for their work through ticket sales. Supporters who buy tickets would also have the opportunity to win prizes.
About 60 local authorities across the country already run community lotteries, including South Staffordshire Council.
On Tuesday Lichfield District Council’s cabinet backed plans to set up a new scheme for the area and appoint an external lottery management.
Cabinet members were told the lottery would cost the council £9,700 a year to run and 60 per cent of ticket sale proceeds would go to good causes and community groups, with 20 per cent going to the prize fund, three per cent for VAT and the remaining 17 per cent towards administration costs.
Community groups and charities selling the tickets would directly receive 50 per cent of the proceeds, with the remaining 10 per cent going into a central fund to be distributed by the council. We Love Lichfield is set to be appointed to distribute the central fund to good causes.
Councillor Ashley Yeates, cabinet member for housing and community, said: “In this district we have many groups and voluntary organisations. We are proposing to set up a community lottery they will be able to use in conjunction with us to raise monies to help whatever they are working on.
“The feedback we are getting is 99 per cent of people are incredibly supportive of this and are looking to get involved, which is great. The biggest prize is £25,000 – if somebody did win that on the first one that would be great publicity.”
Councillor Andrew Smith said: “I think it is an absolutely fantastic idea and I very much support it – it’s almost a no-brainer – we give people something fun and a chance to win some money and at the same time we contribute to local causes.”
But it was questioned if the lottery could prove an issue for those battling gambling addictions however.
Councillor Yeates said: “What we have been told is people who do the lottery are not the people who have a gambling problem. The people who support these lotteries are people who want to support that community.
“They are giving something back, hopefully it is a bit of fun. When the fun stops, stop.”
