Communities and charities would only benefit if the cap was scrapped says minister

The £50 million charity lottery cap is holding back Scottish organisations from supporting communities, the UK government has been warned.

Shirley-Anne Somerville, social justice secretary for the Scottish government, has written to Lisa Nandy, the culture secretary, calling for the limit to be scrapped.

Campaigners, including the Lotteries Council, which represents about 500 lottery operators, have been lobbying for change to the limit for years.

It estimates that if the limit was scrapped, an extra £175m could be raised for good causes over the term of the next parliament.

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% 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”. 

Clara Govier, managing director of the People’s Postcode Lottery, said: “The charity lottery sales limits are causing increasing difficulties for charity fundraising at a time when charities need these vital funds to respond to the impact of the cost-of-living crisis.

“Charity lotteries exist to benefit society, yet have sales limits in place which do not apply to any other type of gambling product, and ultimately make raising funds for charity more difficult.”

She added: “We welcome the Scottish government’s call for these outdated sales limits to be removed, and urge the UK government to take action.”