The UK government is proposing to raise the lottery sales limit for annual benefits

The UK government has been urged to raise the cap on charity lottery sales to £100m a year. British Parliamentarian Ian Murray has asked the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport if there are plans to double the cap on charity lottery sales from £50m to £100m.

Philanthropy Minister Nigel Huddleston has stated that a review of the Charity Lottery is currently underway.

“The government raised the annual lottery sales limit from £10m to £50m in July 2020 as part of a package of reforms designed to allow the National Lottery and other lotteries to thrive and thus increase returns for social causes,” Huddleston said.

We are committed to reviewing these reforms, and this is already underway. We want to understand the impact of these changes before we look again at the case of licensing the £100m lottery and any additional terms that may accompany this.”

The President of the Lottery Board commends the changes already made and asks for the process to continue

Tony Vick, president of the Lottery Board, said the changes already made were very effective, but he asked the government to continue with the amendment process.

“A little over a year after they were introduced, these changes have proven very positive, freeing more resources for partner charities, while reducing costs and cutting red tape for operators – just as the government wanted,” Vick said.

He concluded: “We urge the authorities to continue to make progress in reforming the charitable lottery, particularly given that the £100m annual sales cap remains skewed to the sector and has proven to be the ‘preferred option’ for the government after extensive consultations on the matter.”