LOTTERY WIN FOR WEST MIDS CHARITIES

26-05-2007

The West Midlands’ leading charity lottery has hailed “a victory for the small man” following a government U-turn on a new tax described as “a raid on the donation tin”.

As The Stirrer reported in February, the TLC lottery - which raises cash for more than 100 good causes in the region - was facing a bill of thousands of pounds to help fund the new Gambling Commission (see the report here)

The problem occurred because members can play using debit and credit cards.

This meant they were classified as a “remote” gambling site - putting them on a par with major casinos offering telephone betting as well as online casinos.

It was obviously ludicrous to bracket a charity lottery with these commercial operations and we said so at the time - along with numerous other campaigners.

Thankfully the government has seen sense and decided to drop the plan. Not only that - but their current annual licence fee of £777 is being halved to £342.

TLC’s spokesman Colin Barratt is jubilant: “It means that much more money is going to go to the charities. To get the government to backtrack like this is amazing.

“It just shows the power of lobbying and not giving up. It’s a victory for the small man”

To find out how to play the TLC lottery go to http://www.tlclottery.co.uk/