Clara Govier, the managing director of the People’s Postcode Lottery who took over the position in May, shared that she is to try taking the non-profit organisation to the next level. Ms. Govier seems to be very passionate about the charity and its success and praised the growth achieved, saying that she would do her best in order to make People’s Postcode Lottery even more successful.
Speaking of its success, she highlighted the fact that the Lottery actually represents a business which is run under certain restrictions of local gambling regulation. For the time being, there is a limit set by the Gambling Act 2005 on the yearly income of each society lottery. In addition, there is a certain limit imposed on the tickets’ value in each lottery draw.
Ms. Govier is currently a director of the Lotteries Council, a sector body which is calling for the UK Government to boost the above-mentioned limits. As she highlighted, the restrictions on the society lotteries are governed under the Gambling Act 2005, while the National Lottery is governed by a separate piece of legislation. Up to date, there is a £10-million limit on the annual revenue for all society lotteries, with the amount also including the prizes and the operational costs. The limit set on any single draw amounts to £4 million.
The managing director of the People’s Postcode Lottery said it was “bizarre” that a cap was imposed on what a lottery can raise. In addition, no less than 20% of the amount of money raised by a single lottery must be redirected to a local charity. Ms. Govier further reminded that the contribution made by the People’s Postcode Lottery to local charities currently amounts to 32%, with their total revenue of £9.5 million almost hitting the maximum cap.
Local Charities Need More Funding, Says Ms. Govier
Apart from bringing proper regulation to the postcode lotteries in the country, the above-mentioned rules are also set to give special protection to The National Lottery, which still has its firm place in the British society. The managing director of the People’s Postcode Lottery praised the National Lottery and said that its contributions to local charities do a massive amount of good, but the rest of the lotteries available could add further contributions to the charities.
Ms. Govier confessed that local non-profit organisations were facing some hard time and actually need more funding. In fact, she said that charity organisations are directly losing out due to the current regulatory rules. As explained by Mr. Govier, the People’s Postcode Lottery is forced to turn down four out of five applications to its small grants programme. According to her, such initiatives could be funded once the regulatory regime is relaxed.
For the time being, the People’s Postcode Lottery covers the territory of Great Britain, including England, Scotland and Wales. It does not provide its lottery services in Northern Ireland, which has its own regulatory structure.
- Author
Olivia Cole
