Lottery operators have called for the next government to remove the £50m annual sales limit on charity lotteries and to ditch rules stating a maximum prize cannot exceed 10 per cent of the value of tickets in a draw.
The Lotteries Council, which represents about 500 lottery operators who collectively raise more than £420m a year for good causes, says removing the £50m limit would free up an additional £175m for charities over the next parliament.
The council has been campaigning for years for the maximum annual sales limit for society lotteries to be increased to £100m.
It was raised from £10m to £50m in 2020, but the government subsequently backed away from the idea of putting it up to £100m.
The council said society lotteries had proved to be a “resilient income stream for many charities, who value the long term, unrestricted nature of player-generated funding”.
It calls for an end to rules stating that the maximum prize in a lottery be no more than 10 per cent of the value of tickets in any one draw.
It says the market should set its limit instead, “while continuing to ensure multi-million prizes remain the sole preserve of the National Lottery”.
The council also said the next government should push ahead with a previously proposed consultation to regulate million-pound prize draws, such as those operated by the private company Omaze, which “prove hard for consumers to distinguish from not-for-profit charity lotteries” and are subject to no minimum charitable donation.
Nick Cook, chair of the public affairs committee at the Lotteries Council, said: “Our manifesto provides a raft of common-sense solutions, mainly requiring secondary legislation, which together could generate hundreds of millions in charitable funding over the lifetime of the next parliament.
“Crucially, the forthcoming parliament must deliver action, in addition to warm words of support.”