Hillary Clinton calls for lottery reform in Northern Ireland

Changes in the law around charity lotteries could bring in “vital new funding into Northern Ireland’s civil society”, Hillary Clinton has said.

A video message from the Chancellor of Queen’s University Belfast and former US secretary of state will be played to a People’s Postcode Lottery reception in Stormont on Tuesday.

It comes after Alliance assembly member Sian Mulholland launched a public consultation for her Lotteries for Communities Bill, which aims to expand charity lottery fundraising in Northern Ireland.

However, the operator of the National Lottery in Northern Ireland, Allwyn UK, has warned against “industrial-scale society lotteries”.

The public consultation states “there may be concerns about the potential risks associated with gambling, and its impact on individuals and communities,” and it is seeking to gauge opinions from the public on the matter.

In the video message, Clinton speaks about her and former US President Bill Clinton’s view of the charity sector in Northern Ireland and across the world.

“Through our visits to Northern Ireland over the years, we know how vital the charity sector and civil society are – something we believe is true around the world,” she said.

“When we heard that People’s Postcode Lottery might come to Northern Ireland, we wanted to lend our voices in support.”

The People’s Postcode Lottery is a subscription-based lottery service.

Players sign up with their postcode and pay a subscription fee each month to be in with the chance of winning cash prizes.

They are automatically entered into the draw and prizes are announced every day of the month.

A minimum of 30% of the ticket price goes to charities.

Malcolm Fleming, director of public affairs at the People’s Postcode Lottery, said there was a “huge untapped potential for charity lottery fundraising to raise millions of pounds every year for charities in Northern Ireland”.

Speaking to BBC News NI, Mulholland said: “When we look at large society lotteries and what they have invested into the community and voluntary sector in Great Britain and even across Europe, they’ve raised millions of pounds in vital funds for these good causes in our grass roots and local communities.”

She said she wanted to bring that funding option to the community and voluntary sector in Northern Ireland.

Speaking at a Stormont communities committee, Allwyn UK representatives said modelling indicated a £5.4m annual loss to Northern Ireland’s purse and National Lottery good causes within five years if the legislation was implemented.

Mulholland said she had engaged with the National Lottery, which can operate in Northern Ireland because it is governed by a different legislative framework.

“We have seen research that has shown that in GB where both markets run together side-by-side there is no major impact on the numbers of people playing in the National lottery – it’s a very different product,” she added.

Current legislation prevents large society lotteries, like the People’s Postcode Lottery, from operating in Northern Ireland.

Mulholland said this was “because of the cap and the limits that are set in terms of how many people are allowed to play charity lotteries here and also how much charity lotteries here are allowed to put up the prices”.

• The current laws contained in the Betting, Gaming, Lotteries and Amusements (Northern Ireland) Order date back to 1985

• There is no single independent regulatory body for gambling in Northern Ireland

• Courts and councils license gambling activities, the Department for Communities is responsible for track betting licences and enforcement lies with the police

• The 1985 order predates the development of the internet and therefore contains no provisions relating to online gambling

• NI consumers are offered some protection through laws in Great Britain

• There are also no provisions requiring the gambling industry in NI to make any contribution to funding support services for problem gambling