We have finally received notification from the DCMS of the results of their consultation into Draw and Prize Limit increases. A significant event after over five years of work by prominent influencers in our sector.
Response document
In summary they have announced:
- An increase in the annual sales limit to £50m
- An increase in the individual sales limit to £5m
- Retention of the 10% rule so that prizes can be a maximum of £500,000 subject to be 10% of sales
- No changes to the limits for small society lotteries
- Nothing on the 20% rule
In addition the DCMS will be looking into:
- Consultation on a second tier of lotteries with a higher annual sales limit of £100m subject to further licence conditions will be undertaken “next year”
- They will be seeking views on raising the age limit on scratchcards (online & physical) to 18 (a similar consultation on the NL has already been launched)
We are disappointed that none of the changes that we were keen to see enacted came to pass. If you read the response document, you will see that concerns from the Local Government sector about an increase in work load has prevented the Minister from putting through small society lottery limit increases.
All in all a good result for our larger members, not so great for the smaller lotteries