Horsham community lottery raises £41k for good causes
Councillors have voted to keep it going
Horsham councillors have voted to continue the town’s community lottery after a successful trial year.
The lottery, which was set up to raise money for local good causes, has sold more than 1,800 tickets since July 2019 and is on track to raise more than £56,000.
It has also put a few extra pounds in some people’s pockets, with three ticket-holders winning £2,000, 20 winning £250 and 171 winning £25.
A further 1,643 have won three free tickets, while 20 have won various spot prizes such as B&Q vouchers.
No one has yet managed to scoop the top prize of £25,000.
The lottery is run in conjunction with external management company Gatherwell and, at a meeting of the cabinet, members agreed to allow it to continue.
Tricia Youtan, cabinet member for community matters & wellbeing, said it had been ‘a huge success’.
More than £41,000 has been given to local good causes which had signed up to the scheme, with the rest going into a council fund which is used to cover operational costs and to share among other local groups.
Mrs Youtan added: “The need for funding for local groups is more important than ever given the financial pressure on this sector due to Covid-19.”
There were words of caution from Philip Circus who raised concerns about the risks involved in gambling.
Mr Circus said: “This sort of lottery is what you might call the soft end of gambling. There’s always been a concern by social commentators that soft gambling can lead on to hard gambling.
“The danger is that some people in our community, who are facing unparalleled financial difficulties, might see participation in gambling as something that’s quite tempting or more tempting than normal.”
The meeting was told that take-up had increased during lockdown ‘primarily because people wanted to support their local groups’.
Mr Circus was assured that ‘checks and balances’ were in place meaning ticket sales were monitored and officers could step in if some one was deemed to be buying too many.