West Norfolk lottery 'raises over £30k in first 10 months', meeting told

More than £30,000 has been raised for good causes in West Norfolk through the establishment of a new council lottery, a meeting has heard.

West Norfolk Wins was set up last year by the borough council in a bid to help community groups raise funds for their own activities.

More than 60 have so far signed up to benefit from the game.

And a meeting of the authority’s environment and community panel on Tuesday was told the scheme had generated over £34,000 in proceeds since its first draw last May.

Deputy leader Elizabeth Nockolds said the lottery had enabled many more organisations to benefit from funds than might have done under the council’s own assistance programmes.

She said: “It’s a really good scheme for the borough council to be involved in. It’s money they (the good causes) wouldn’t have made otherwise.”

And panel chairman Colin Sampson welcomed assurances from officials that there was no evidence the game had affected support for existing fundraising lotteries in the area.

He said: “I think there are one or two around, me included, who are more enthusiastic a year on. It’s a bit of a win.”

The lottery works by inviting players to buy tickets in blocks of either one, three, six or 12 months online at a cost of £1 per draw.

Of that, 60 pence goes to good causes with 50 pence going directly to a charity nominated by the purchaser and 10 pence to a central community fund administered by the council.

Twenty pence goes towards the prize fund, with 17 pence going to covering the costs of the lottery’s operator, Gatherwell, and the remainder towards VAT.

Around £23,500 of the total proceeds made up to late March has gone to nominated causes, with just over £10,000 going to the central fund.

Approximately half of the cash for the central fund has come from players nominating it as the cause they wish to support.

The meeting was told that around 1,300 tickets are currently being sold each week, while causes including the West Norfolk Deaf Association, the Great Massingham Village Hall, Lynn Samaritans and Marshland Hall were among those which had raised the most money from ticket sales so far.

One player has so far won the jackpot prize of £25,000, although officers said the cost of that is covered by insurance held by the lottery’s operator. Two others have scooped the game’s second prize of £2,000.

Gatherwell runs around 50 local lotteries across the UK and the panel was told a forthcoming meeting of its network of lotteries would be held in West Norfolk.

An event is also being planned next month to help organisations who have generated small amounts of funds from ticket sales to promote their participation more widely.

Linking the game to fundraising events, such as by offering gift vouchers for tickets, was suggested as a potential solution.

Groups that want to benefit from the lottery have to undergo due diligence processes before they can do so.