New Irish lottery operator could mean
Howard Lake | 3 June 2013 | News
The Irish minister responsible for the competition for a new lottery operator has gone back on a previous commitment that the amount of money going to good causes would not be affected by the change.
Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin at the official launch of the licence competition last week outlined new regulations that will have the effect that good causes will receive substantially less from the National Lottery.
According to the press release issued by the Department for Public Expenditure listing the criteria for the licence, the ‘ongoing annual contribution to Good Causes will be set at 65% of Gross Gaming Revenues, which are defined as Sales minus Prizes’. The ‘sales minus prizes’ clause will have the effect of significantly reducing the amount of money available to charities and voluntary groups.
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A report in the Irish Times suggests that if the new rules were applied to last year’s numbers, good causes would have received over €10 million less. The change in the licence is partly to accommodate an enhanced operator’s fee, according to the Irish Times.
Earlier in the year Mr Howlin said that a new lottery licence operator would maintain charitable giving at its current level.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.