Oral Answers to Questions

Eddie Hughes Excerpts

Thursday 15th June 2023 Commons Chamber

The Secretary of State was asked—

[Eddie Hughes (Walsall North) (Con)]

1. If her Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of excluding charity lotteries from the proposed gambling levy.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Stuart Andrew)]

We are introducing a levy on operators to fund research, education and treatment for gambling-related harm, and we will consult on the details this summer, including what different sectors pay. We recognise that society lotteries make an important contribution to funding good causes, and that will be taken into account in any final decision.

[Eddie Hughes]

I am kind of hopeful about what the Minister says, but I strongly urge him to consider exempting society lotteries from the compulsory levy given the excellent work that they do right across the country.

[Stuart Andrew]

In a previous life, I set up a society lottery for the hospice that I used to work at, so I understand the important contribution that they make to many charities up and down the country. The levy power applies in the original Gambling Act 2005 to all Gambling Commission licence holders, including society lotteries, but we will, of course, take into consideration the tremendous work that charities such as air ambulances, hospice lotteries, Age UK, the Royal British Legion and Battersea Dogs and Cats Home do, and their reliance on their own lotteries.