€43 million lost to charitable causes over 10 years in Ireland
Howard Lake | 12 November 2018 | News
Independent lotteries in Ireland are not to blame for the fall in contributions to charitable causes from the National Lottery in Ireland, according to a new report on lotteries.
Over the last 10 years charitable causes have lost €43 million in grants, from €268 million in 2008 to €225 million last year. When the government privatised the lottery a number of years ago it said funding to charities would not be affected.
The report, An Assessment of the Online Gambling Market in Ireland, published by economist Jim Power for independent players Lottoland and Mylotto24, found no evidence that lottery betting undermines funding for good causes from their State-controlled competitor.
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The report put the fall in charitable causes down to a lack of growth in lottery income since 2008 because of poor online sales.
Premier Lotteries Ireland, which runs the Irish national lottery, challenged the argument that private-sector competitors posed no threat to good-cause funding.
“These operators are clearly cannibalising our games and denying good causes from additional funding, which is incredibly impactful on communities across the country,” the company told the Irish Times.
Premier Lotteries said lottery sales had increased over the last three years and part of the fee the company paid for the lottery licence is being used to build a new national children’s hospital.
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.