Shropshire council rules out lottery

Councillor Andy Boddington put forward a case in 2017 for a lottery to be created which would allow small organisations such a village halls sell lottery tickets.

At the time, Councillor Boddington, who represents Ludlow North was told that the council was already exploring the possibility of introducing such a scheme.

But this week he was told by Steve Charmley, deputy leader of the council that whilst significant research had been carried out, "I do not believe there is a case for a community lottery scheme in Shropshire."

He added: "Evidence suggests that local community lotteries can make a reasonable amount of money in the first year after an initial marketing campaign. Income levels, however, tend to drop off after this. Shropshire Council would need to spend quite a lot of money on marketing and would be competing with other local and national lotteries in terms of ticket sales."

Councillor Boddington said: "I don’t buy its reasons for rejection – that it will divert money from other causes and that it will encourage gambling. The real reason is that it will not generate an income stream for the council and the council is not going to help communities unless it can make a profit. Shropshire Council has become obsessed with major building and investment schemes in the north of the county and has left rural communities behind.

"The council says it will displace money from other voluntary fundraisers. But all the evidence is that community lotteries allow new funding to be raised – each ticket sold is for a specific cause such as a village hall or scout troop.

"The real reason, as the deputy leader admits, is that a scheme like this doesn’t make a penny for Shropshire Council. It is there for the benefit of the community. It is a way of helping communities help themselves. But Shropshire Council has never done that. It’s resilience agenda, helping communities help themselves, has died off.

"Shropshire Council has become obsessed with major building and investment schemes in the north of the county and has left rural communities behind."

Councillor Boddington had hoped that the authority would have followed the example of Aylesbury District Council which became the first local council to implement a lottery scheme in 2016.