City lottery plan faces axe for fear of hitting poorest

OFFICERS SAY

LEICESTER City Council is set to abandon plans for a lottery because of concerns it might negatively impact the city’s poorest communities.

In a report drawn up ahead of next week’s Neighbourhood Services Scrutiny meeting officers said the risks of a lottery would far outweigh the benefits.

There was a concern that a lottery would be seen as an encouragement to gamble.

The report added the cost of even small-scale gambling could “extract a terrible toll” on the “poorest members of our communities”.

A 2016 survey carried out in

Leicester found “there were sometimes devastating consequences of gambling for individuals”.

It said: “For some, the spending of comparatively small sums of money appeared to have had a disruptive effect on household finances.

“In other cases, losses for some people ran into tens of thousands of pounds”

Leicester has some of the most deprived communities in the country. Parts of New Parks, Braunstone and Fosse wards are in the top 1 per cent of the most deprived areas in England.

The report said money from the lottery would have been used to boost council funds.

However, similar lotteries in other cities showed there would be little benefit from them.

It was estimated the council would only gain £40,000 a year from the lottery and in the first year, the lottery would cost £10,000 to set up and advertise.

The officers said it was “unlikely to be worth the effort”.

There was also concern that a community lottery would mean charity lotteries would lose money. These include those run by Rainbows and Loros hospices.

RISKS OUTWEIGH THE BENEFITS