Daventry district to get its own lottery for good causes?

Members of Daventry District Council’s strategy group will be presented with a report looking at potentially starting an online lottery to benefit local good causes.

Local authorities can run their own lotteries under licence, and last year Aylesbury Vale District Council launched the UK’s first such lottery.

The rules governing these lotteries allow a higher proportion of the ticket income to be given to good causes than other lotteries.

The report states: “With demand for DDC’s community grants exceeding supply, and with other sources of funding for community groups either shrinking or being cut altogether, a community lottery will help fill a gap in the funding landscape and enable community groups to continue with the good work they do.”

Rather than run the lottery in-house, the council would most likely hire in a lottery management company to run the scheme, selling tickets, carrying out the draws and distributing prize money.

Typically they follow a similar pattern to the National Lottery with players picking six numbers and those matching three or more win prizes.

However, unlike national versions, these community lotteries allow players to assign a portion of their ticket price to go to a community group signed up to the scheme. Some of the ticket income also goes to the council to be redistributed as community grants.

The report due to go before councillors tonight (Thursday) seeks permission for officers to investigate the viability of running such a lottery in the Daventry district by looking at the local market conditions, and also speaking to community groups and members of the public to 
see if there would be a demand.

The report points out Aylesbury Vale has a higher population than Daventry district, and a higher average income – both of which could affect the numbers of people willing to play a community lottery in our district.

Officers would report their findings back to the committee in January, and if they find there would be a community benefit for the district it is then they would seek permission for DDC to find someone to run the lottery for them.