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Sheffield folk propose city lottery scheme
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LOTTO good idea! Sheffield residents have come up with the idea of holding a city lottery scheme to help raise extra cash for council services.
The proposal was put forward during consultation on how Sheffield Council should save £55 million from its budget over the coming year.
Now the idea is being considered seriously by councillors.
Coun Bryan Lodge, the authority’s deputy leader, said: “We’ve asked officers to look into this in detail to see if it’s a viable option.
“If this presents an opportunity to bring in some income that we can direct towards supporting council services then that’d be a really positive thing to do.
“I understand that some other councils are already looking into this.
“We’ll look at those examples and see if they can help us to develop a Sheffield model.
“This goes to show how important it has been to get feedback and suggestions from Sheffielders .
“I’d like to thank everybody who has taken the time to contact us with suggestions and comments about the budget.”
Meanwhile, the council is not reducing its £600,000 annual major sporting events budget – because the events it is used to fund, such as training camps by international sporting teams, bring in 10 times more money for the local economy.
“It does require some investment to bring major sporting events to the city but this investment is returned many times over,” said Coun Helen Mirfin-Boukouris, cabinet member for jobs and growth.
How a city lottery works:
* Money raised by a city lottery would provide additional revenue.
* Under rules set out by the UK Gambling Commission, which regulates lotteries, the maximum value of tickets which could be sold in a local authority lottery would be limited to £10 million and the maximum prize 10 per cent of ticket sales.
* A lottery would cost money to set up and predicting how much it would raise could be difficult.
* Most lotteries are run by charities. No councils are registered as operators.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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Comments
There are 6 comments to this article
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doubtful
Sunday, February 12, 2012 at 02:17 PMPersonally I can't afford to spend money on gambling. The only people I know who buy lottery tickets and scratchcards are the druggies and alcoholics who want quick profit. Maybe GIVE people a free lottery ticket when they pay their council tax would be a better idea.
serendipity
Sunday, February 12, 2012 at 01:46 PMWhen the National Lottery was first introduced, it was opposed by the Labour Party because it would be like a tax on poor people who would waste their meagre incomes on a 14 million to one chance of escaping poverty. Now, our spendthrift Council are so desperate to rake in more money to waste that they are having their own. They have had more than enough money to provide basic services but have chosen to squander it on making this the City of Sanctuary and other pc projects. Collect all the unpaid rents and Council Tax and spend the money on what it is meant for.
kayte
Sunday, February 12, 2012 at 12:32 PMSheffield Council won't see an extra penny from me - I already pay way over the value of what I get! But if other mugs (sorry counciltaxpayers) want to contribute, who am I to stand in their way! After all, if it means the mayor can have a few more perks it must be a brilliant idea - mustn't it?
seenitall
Sunday, February 12, 2012 at 12:25 PMDon't forget the old saying that " A lottery is a tax on the poor"
Sir Taxedalot
Sunday, February 12, 2012 at 10:35 AMThe council already waste every penny I give them so why would I volunteer to give them more?
PaulSheffield
Sunday, February 12, 2012 at 09:35 AMSo instead of getting their house in order and living within their means SCC think its a good idea to encourage their core hard up voters to go out and gamble even more of their benefits allowance to keep all their council buddies in their over paid non jobs.... You cannot make this up.
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