Agenda item

LOCAL LOTTERY

Meeting of Cabinet, Wednesday, 6th September, 2017 5.30 pm (Item CAB65)

Decision:

RECOMMENDED:

1) That a local lottery is established and operated by an External Lottery Manager.

2) That a competitive selection be carried out with the providers in the local authority market to act as its External Lottery Manager.

3) That the selection process be delegated to the Executive Director – Finance Services (S151 Officer) in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Culture Heritage and Health and the Monitoring Officer to sign the necessary agreements to enter into the local lottery with the successful company and secure any necessary gambling licences and budgets.

4) That the criteria for selecting the good causes which can become part of the local lottery detailed at Appendix 2 to the report be adopted.

5) The monitoring and review of applications from good causes to be delegated to the Portfolio Holder for Culture, Heritage and Health, and the Executive Director – Finance Services. In addition Norfolk Community Foundation to provide an independent due diligence review of these arrangements.

6) All monies raised through the local lottery which are not linked to a specific good cause will be distributed through the existing small grants financial assistance application process. Any uncommitted balance at the end of each financial year to be donated to the Mayors charity.

Reasons for Decision

To establish a local authority lottery for the Borough Council of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk.

To take into account the comments of the Environment and Community Panel on 5 September 2017.

Minutes:

Councillor Mrs Nockolds presented a report which explained that a local authority lottery was a concept that had been introduced by a number of local authorities across the country with many more exploring the concept. At a time when there were increasing pressures on funding available to the voluntary and community sector they are being seen as a way of providing support to bring in additional funding.

The Gambling Act 2005 included as a permitted category of a lottery, a ‘local authority lottery’. Local authority lotteries were promoted by the local authority and must be licenced by the Gambling Commission. Authorities may use the net proceeds of such lotteries for any purpose for which they have power to incur expenditure.

The report set out the options for running a local authority lottery which were to include running it in-house, or to partner with an External Lottery Manager (ELM). To run a lottery in-house would require staffing, including a lottery manager and the purchase and running of software systems. The costs of this had not been explored in detail by officers but other local authorities had found them to be significant. If the Council were to partner with an ELM, other than small initial start-up costs and the on-going gambling licence with The Gambling Commission and membership of The Lottery Council, the operation of the lottery would be fully funded through the ticket proceeds and would bring in the skills and expertise to run all elements of the lottery process.

It was noted that Aylesbury Vale District Council was the first to launch an online local authority lottery in November 2015. This was run in partnership with Gatherwell Ltd, an External Lottery Manager (ELM). Since then 14 other Local Government bodies had gone live, with 18 more planning to be live by Christmas 2017 and 30-40 more at the development stage.

Councillor Mrs Nockolds drew attention to the notes from the meeting of the Environment and Community Panel the previous evening which had been published. The Panel had supported the proposals but recommended a tender exercise be carried out for the appointment of the External Lottery Manager. Following consideration of the comments from the Panel it was proposed that the recommendations be amended as set out below. Cabinet agreed to the amended wording.

Councillor Long drew attention to the exempt information discussed the previous evening and reminded Councillors of the Exclusion requirements if they discussed that information.

Under Standing Order 34, Councillor J Moriarty addressed the Cabinet expressing satisfaction that the minute from the Panel meeting was available at such short notice which meant Cabinet could see the amendments to the recommendations requested by the Panel. He also supported the proposed amendments by Councillor Nockolds.

Councillor Beales drew attention to the need to keep the scheme under review because at this stage it wasn’t known how much would be raised. He drew attention to £93,000 Heritage Lottery grant recently awarded for Lynnsport and the requirements of the Lottery that the Borough advertise the award to ensure local people were aware of grants awarded for the area. It was important that the local causes advertised their cases to encourage participation.

Councillor Devereux drew attention to the ethical issues raised, but he classed it as a self help scheme which people could contribute to.

Councillor Mrs Nockolds informed Cabinet that she and Councillor Long had spoken to a number of local groups and charities about the proposals, all of which were supportive and could see the benefit of the local scheme.

Councillor Long expressed the hope that an external provider could be found who would do a sound job for the Borough.