Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the (a) impact of the changes to charity lottery limits implemented in 2020 on the financial stability of charities and (b) implications for her policies of that impact.

Society lotteries are an important fundraising tool for many charities and other good causes throughout the country. They are regulated as a gambling product, and require a licence from the Gambling Commission in order to operate. We recognise their benefits as part of a mixed portfolio of funding, as they are able to provide a source of regular and unrestricted income.

Under the current regulatory framework, a charity holding a single operator licence is able to sell up to £50 million of tickets per year, which can provide for a healthy supplement to other sources of income.

We reviewed the impact of the society lottery sales and prize limit increases, 12 months after they were implemented in July 2020. We continue to keep this under review with the Gambling Commission.