Agenda item

REPORT OF THE COMMERCIAL TEAM LEADER, THE COMMERCIAL MANAGER AND THE SERVICE DIRECTOR – COMMERCIAL

To seek approval for the Council to introduce and adhere to new policies associated with the delivery of the North Hertfordshire Community Lottery and Gambling Licence application.

RESOLVED: That the implementation of the new policies associated with launching and delivering the North Hertfordshire Community Lottery be postponed until the next Cabinet meeting (20 July 2021).

REASON FOR DECISION: To allow for appropriate consideration by Cabinet and Members Cross-Party.

Audio Recording – 9 Minutes

The Executive Member for Enterprise, the Arts and Transport, Councillor Sam Collins, presented the report entitled North Hertfordshire Community Lottery - New Policies.

Councillor Collins advised that the focus of the report was on the Community Lottery policies rather than the concept of the lottery itself as this was approved by Cabinet in December last year.

Councillor Collins further informed Cabinet that the reason behind the Council initiating a North Hertfordshire Community Lottery was due to central Government shortfalls in funding.

The Service Director – Commercial provided further information to Cabinet, including:

·                There were policies in place to protect the people taking part in the lottery;

·                The aim of the Community Lottery was to generate additional revenue in support of good causes such as local charities, community groups, sports clubs and schools within the District;

·                The Community Lottery would support local groups and organisations to create and promote an additional funding stream;

·                Members of the public/ community would be able to purchase tickets from the North Hertfordshire Community Lottery website and choose which group or organisation/s they wish to financially support via a lottery ticket sale;

·                The Council would also benefit financially from each ticket sale, however at a lower monetary proportion than the groups.

·                The lottery would not encourage gambling as players decide where the money should go;

·                50% of ticket sales would go directly to good causes;

·                Every Council that had a Community Lottery spoke positively about it;

·                Gatherwell (External Lottery Manager) had been in place for 8 years. In that time, there had been no reports of gambling problems or issues with vulnerable people; and

·                Gatherwell was audited on an annual basis by the Gambling Commission.

The Service Director – Commercial drew Members’ attention to the Addendum Report which contained his responses to the recommendations put forward by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee:

·                The minimum age to purchase a ticket could not be increased from 16 to 18 years old;

·                The maximum number of tickets that can be purchase in one transaction is 20; and;

·                Tickets could only be purchased using a Debit Card.

The Service Director – Commercial informed Cabinet that in order to allow for Call-in, the decision to proceed with the Gambling Licence application would be moved to 7 July 2021 instead of 30 June 2021 as originally stated in the report.

The following Members asked questions and/or raised comments:

·                Councillor Judi Billing; and

·                Councillor Ian Albert.

Once discussions had concluded,  Councillor Judi Billing proposed that in order to allow for more cross-party dialogue and to enable Cabinet more time to consider the policies, the implementation of the new policies associated with launching and delivering the North Hertfordshire Community Lottery be postponed.

Councillor Ian Albert seconded Councillor Billing’s proposal.

To clarify matters, the Service Director – Legal and Community/Monitoring Officer asked if the item was to be adjourned until the next Cabinet meeting or adjourned to allow for Officer delegated decision in consultation with the Executive Member.

In response, Councillor Elizabeth Dennis-Harburg requested that the report be reconsidered and decided by Cabinet at the next meeting.

It was voted upon and:

RESOLVED: That consideration of the new policies associated with launching and delivering the North Hertfordshire Community Lottery be postponed until the next Cabinet meeting (20 July 2021).

REASON FOR DECISION: To allow for appropriate consideration by Cabinet and Members Cross-Party.