Should National Lottery money only go to registered charities

August 18, 2009 by  
Filed under Lottery News

When the National Lottery was first established one of the main criteria for the operation of such a lottery in Britain was that a certain percentage of the funds were distributed to good causes. Since it’s inception in 1994 there have been some questionable “good causes’ who have benefited from the income it provides. Now we’re asking should the National Lottery money only go to registered charities?

More often than not the money for National Lottery sales comes from low income households with most of them understanding that their chance of winning the jackpot is unlikely. But the disappointment of not winning is compensated by the fact that some of the money that they spend on their lottery tickets goes to good causes. Unfortunately a lot the money seems to be used in a variety of questionable ways. For example about £200 million each year is spent on unnecessary bureaucracy or should we say “bureau-crazy!”.

Some of the other supposed good causes which have been questioned by Britain’s public include; the £630 million spent building the Millennium Dome, £33,700 to the Gender Trust for transsexuals and people who are ‘“uneasy about their sexuality’, a lesbian and gay pantomime in Manchester, £340,000 to the National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns – a group not concerned with assisting the welfare of asylum seekers but campaigning for the overthrow of Britain’s asylum laws and the Communities Empowerment Network which provides legal support to school pupils excluded from school to name but a few.

The National Lottery was supposed to fund projects that aren’t included in general Government spending. However this philosophy was changed by the Labour Government in 1998 with the creation of the New Opportunities Fund which is used to dip into the lottery pot for headline-grabbing Government stunts.

The people of Britain are starting to resent this misspending of their hard earned cash which is increasingly funding trendy middle-class causes. This fact is compounded by news that National Lottery sales are falling by the week. So should the National Lottery money only go to registered charities? That will be for you, Britain’s public who buy tickets to decide.