Issue - meetings

Purpose of Report

To report the growing trend in developing Local Authority lotteries to help fund community groups and seek Executive approval to set up a community lottery for Lincoln.

Decision

That the proposal to progress procurement of an external lottery manager with the aim of setting up a Lincoln Lottery in 2018 be approved.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected

None.

Reason for Decision

The purpose of the proposed Lincoln Lottery was to help fund discretionary support for local voluntary and community organisations as well as enable such organisations to raise funds directly for themselves. All funds raised would therefore benefit local people and communities.

It had been estimated that the lottery could raise between £15,000 and £20,000 in year one, rising to as much as £100,000 in year five.

Use of an external lottery manager would have a key role throughout the lifetime of the lottery and would be responsible for:

·         provision of a bespoke lottery website for the Council, designed in partnership with the Council, as well as individual pages for all of the approved causes;

·         ensuring that the website was viewable on all devices, fully secure and PCI compliant;

·         provision of bespoke marketing advice to the Council, with updated materials monthly to retain freshness;

·         support with both pre-launch and post-launch advice;

·         provision of bespoke branded marketing material to all approved causes, in the form of printable and digital leaflets, image files for social media and unique links and QR codes;

·         overall responsibility for all operative and administration requirements in the running of the lottery, including the provision of a named account manager;

·         provision of a support helpline for the Council, but also customers who did not have access to online facilities.

The Council would need to nominate a position to be a licence holder within the authority. This would involve applying for an annual licence from the Gambling Commission with the support of the external lottery manager and would grant the person formal authorisation of monthly good cause payments and quarterly Gambling Commission submissions. It was therefore proposed that the Council’s Financial Services Manager be named as the Council’s licence holder.

A question was raised as to who would decide which charities or community projects would benefit from the lottery’s good causes, taking into account that there were numerous national charities working at local level in the city, together with various independent charities and community groups. Appendix A to the report showed examples of other local authority lotteries and the good causes associated with them, which indicated a wide range of charitable and community based projects benefiting. The good causes as part of the Lincoln Lottery would be designed and worked up in due course once the external lottery manager was in place.