The Borough of Harrogate could see a new online lottery officially rolled out as part of a programme aimed at raising money for good causes within the local community. The Harrogate Borough Council is expected to make a decision during the Cabinet’s session scheduled for October 18th whether or not to introduce the Harrogate District Lottery to community.
According to local councillors, the voluntary and community sector in the Borough will be supported by the introduction of a new lottery system, especially at a time when the central funding from the Government has been reduced.
Benefits of New Lottery Scheme
Councillor Graham Swift, who is a Cabinet Member for Resources, Enterprise and Economic Development, explained that the new programme is expected to provide funding to a large number of organisations. According to the Harrogate Borough Council members, this would be important for local projects that were finding it hard to survive because of the decreased funding from the Government. As shared by Councillor Swift, similar schemes that had been implemented by other councils, turned out to be successful.
According to information unveiled in a council report, the first authority that set up a web-based lottery – the Aylesbury Vale District Council – managed to raise an amount of over £70,000 for various community charities and organisations. The Amber Vale District Council has also implemented such a scheme and it turned out to be efficient. The afore-mentioned councils decided to run the new lottery scheme online in order to avoid high distribution and sales costs.
Up to date, a total of 19 authorities are licensed by the country’s major gambling regulatory body – the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) – to run lotteries. In case that the cabinet of the Harrogate Borough Council approves the new online lottery scheme, the project could be brought into action by the spring of 2018, with its first draw probably being held in July 2018.
Variations of Lottery Schemes Considered
Two ticket types are offered by the original kind of such a lottery. The first type would provide 60% of the proceeds gathered through lottery tickets sale, while the other type would redirect 50% of the proceeds are redirected to a good cause chosen by the winner. In addition, 10% of the proceeds of the second type would also be redirected to the Harrogate District Community Fund.
The online lottery draw would be sold at the price of £1, with the draw’s winner receiving 20% of the profits generated from total sales. The Harrogate Borough Council also revealed that it plans to redirect no less than 60% of the proceeds towards voluntary organisations or charities within the community, as such organisations played a crucial part there.
Reportedly, the council would probably run the new lottery system itself. The project’s costs are expected to be from £80,000 and £100,000.
- Author
Daniel Williams
