New GC changes affect local and society lotteries

The Gambling Commission recently laid out some changes that local/society lotteries must follow to continue operating. As of 29 July 2020, these rules are now in affect and are similar to how the privately owned National Lottery functions.

The new changes are designed to make these lotteries more transparent and offer more information to its players, but also increase the prize limits for players too. Transparency is largely why the Camelot, the operator of The National Lottery isn't regulated to the same standards as other operators, with different age restrictions and rules about promotion.

What is a local or society lottery? 

A local lottery is a lottery that is run by a local authority, like a local council, where the proceeds are used to fund local community projects, art centres, parks of leisure facilities. This is similar to how The National Lottery spends its money, though the local/society lottery funds are spent in the community the money is raised.

Just like The National Lottery, these lotteries must be licensed by the Gambling Commission to run, which means that any local lottery you may be aware off will need to follow these new rules in order to run.

What’s new?

Players will have easy access to key information, including:

• How the money that is raised is being spent
• How much is spent on prizes
• How winners are determined
• Potential prizes available
• Odds of winning a prize

There are also some new prize and proceeds limits:

• The limit on draw proceeds has been increased to £5m from £4m
• Annual proceeds limit is now £50m, raised from £10m
• Maximum individual prize is now £500k, an increase of £100k

If you're aware of a local lottery near you, why not check in and see what projects your community's money is funding? If you aren't already a part of a lottery it might be worth speaking with your local council or sports teams to see what they have on offer so you can enter and actively improve your local area! You probably have a higher chance of winning too, as the the easiest UK Lottery to win has odds of over 2 million to 1!