Clause 92 - Mandatory Conditions of lottery operating licence
Gambling Bill
9:45 am
Mr Don Foster (Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media & Sport, Culture, Media & Sport; Bath, Liberal Democrat)
This, for us, is an important group of amendments. It relates to problems that have been drawn to my attention, particularly by a number of hospices that run so-called ticketless lotteries as a fundraising activity. The hospices are deeply concerned that the Bill will undermine their ability to operate ticketless lotteries and will place significant additional administrative burdens on them, making it difficult to continue to raise the sums that they do.
The Committee will be aware that many hospices do incredible work with relatively little direct Government support. They therefore rely heavily on their own fundraising activities, and anything that undermines their ability to raise funds could undermine their work. There is genuine concern that the Bill may tie many ticketless lotteries run by hospices in a great deal of red tape, and the issue would affect at least 100 membership lotteries.
Section 11(2) in part 11 of the Lotteries and Amusements Act 1976 allows membership lotteries to sell a ''ticket or chance'', but clause 92(5) of the Bill refers only to ''a ticket'', which, as a mandatory requirement, ''must be a document''. The provision throws into doubt the system for many of the membership lotteries such as that run by Ty Hafan children's hospice in Wales, under which they supply a letter and a receipt confirming entry into the lottery, but do not supply a ticket each and every week for which individuals pledge to enter the lottery. Ty Hafan has said that if the Bill is passed in its current form
''the future viability of the hospice is threatened''.
That is how serious it thinks the Bill's implications might be. Many membership lotteries that have contacted me share that concern and believe that the Bill will force them to change their administrative arrangements significantly.
The Bill will therefore create a problem, because it will add to the administrative costs of society lotteries. It would lead to hospice managers and their staff being treated as if they were bureaucrats rather than carers for the terminally ill, and it suggests that society lotteries would be forced to act more as if they were commercial—it would remove the assumption of trust. The matter was raised in a recent industry liaison group by the National Lottery Commission, which reported that the DCMS acknowledged that it could be a problem, but so far the Government have failed to draft an amendment. Our amendments would reinstate the concept of buying a chance in a lottery. Amendments Nos. 302 and 303 are important in that regard, and, depending on the Minister's response, we might be inclined to vote on the issue.
Amendment No. 304 is merely a probing amendment, seeking clarification of what the Minister means by ''a document'', and of how the requirements in subsections (5) and (6) will affect society lotteries. It is important for the Minister to clarify whether a one-off letter will be sufficient documentation to prove entry into society lotteries, and to place on the record that the Bill will allow society lotteries to continue to do their excellent work without any extra burdens being placed on them.