Decision soon on National Lottery
Saturday 6th June 2009, 2:59PM BST.
Economic Development Minister Alan Maclean
ISLANDERS could soon be playing the National Lottery.
The Economic Development Minister told the Education and Home Affairs Scrutiny panel this week that the decision on whether to bring the game to Jersey currently lay with the law officers, but he was hopeful that the process would not take much longer. Senator Alan Maclean was addressing the panel as part of their review into the Fort Regent site.
During the session – which was held during States Members’ lunchbreak from the Strategic Plan debate – panel chairman Deputy Roy Le Hérissier asked the minister whether he thought it would be possible to draw from either the UK or Jersey lotteries for funding for Fort Regent.
‘There are some legal issues yet to be resolved to get the National Lottery here,’ responded Senator Maclean. ‘Until they can be resolved there is a bit of an “if” floating around with regards to bringing the National Lottery to Jersey.’
He added: ‘It’s with the law officers at the moment and I’m not sure how long that is going to take. Hopefully it won’t be much longer.’
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About 15 years overdue. Why bother with a small local lottery where the best you can expect if you are lucky is something like £300,000 for the top prize at Christmas? Not exactly enough to retire on is it?
However once the UK lottery is allowed over here people will have a chance to win enough money to make a real difference and thus make the purchase worthwhile.
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Thank God these people haven’t had to deal with anything urgent, we would all probably have died of boredom waiting for a decision !!!
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What a non-story! Anyone with a sterling bank account (which is almosat the entire population of Jersey) and a UK email address can play the UK National Lottery online.
I have been doing so for the last 15 years.
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About time,mind you,i buy my lotto tickets on line,as i am sure lots of people also do this.so if it does come,it will not make a difference to me.
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Adrian, I think you’ll find the odds of winning several CI lotteries to accumulate over a million are far higher than the odds to win 1 UK national jackpot. Plus with CI lotteries there is always a single winner, no rollovers, shared winnings etc.
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Adrian #1 I disagree with your comment about the local lottery, you should also check the amounts that can be won at Xmas!
People are too greedy, no matter what’s said, once the initial frenzy had died back over the national lottery for those that already don’t already get tickets, the local lottery tickets will still be bought for fear of losing out on it.
However, hasn’t this been with the law officers department for an excessive time now?!
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Comment 3 John – I tried to play online and when I input my postcode I was denied, how do you get around that?
Long overdue, I like many others have my brother do it for me but you can’t help thinking that a big win could divide a family. The temptation to keep the money could be too much for some people.
Good of the states to consider permitting us to spend our own money as we wish.
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i meant to say the odds of winning several CI lotteries are lower than 1 UK jackpot, not higher.
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To John from Rozel
Your credit or debit card billing address has to be a uk address, its nothing to do with your email address.
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We mustn’t forget that Camelot are a for profit business, we have no such body here in Jersey running the local lottery.
Local charities may also find it harder to compete for the larger grants, and with less control, a number may lose out.
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What happened to free choice is this Albania or something? Why can’t people have unfettered access to the UK lottery? Just because the States don’t want us to buy UK lottery tickets they make it hard for islanders to get tickets. This is a blantent infringement of human rights, as far as I am concerned, luckily we aren’t in the EU isn’t it?
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What is not clear is whether the people of Jersey will get the benefit if payouts for good causes as well as being able to gamble on the Lotto!
Peter Troy, St Saviour, Jersey
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9 is correct.if you cant do that,get a friend to put it on,and send you the ticket over.
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Adrian -Totally agree. Our politicians argue that UK and foreign investors should have the “free choice” to invest their money through Jersey in order to mitigate their tax so why do they object to this working both ways.
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About time too. It has been years overdue, and I can’t wait to be able to pay off my mortgage when I win!!!!
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James Deale #10, I think you need to do a little bit of investigation in to the Channel Island Lottery.
If we look at the 2008 report you will see that 20% of the profits where retained by the states for the accumulated fund as a contingency measure.
Then there are two main agents for the lottery, who buy the tickets at a discounted price of 13%
So they get 13p of every ticket purchased.
In the 2008 Christmas draw 1,657,700 tickets where sold which means the two main agents received 13% of the £1,657,700 between them.
Also for any winning ticket all agents and sub agents receive 1% of the prize amount of any winning ticket.
So the shop or agent that sells the winning ticket of any amount will receive 1%.
In the 2008 Christmas lottery the top prize was £553,000.
I have no idea how many tickets get handed out to sub agents or shops and how many are sold by the main agents in their booths in town?
The figures above where obtained from http://www.gov.je website for the 2008 lottery report.
I must say it does seem a little like a profit business if you really look at it…..
I must add that in the 2008 lottery report it lists all the charities that benefit from the funding grants they give out and I would hate to see them loose out.
If we are to bring in the UK Lottery we must make sure that we keep the charities don’t loose out on some very important funding…..
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I have been waiting for the lottery to come here for years. I say let the people have the choice, if they want to buy them why not? I too have to send money home and ask family to buy tickets for me. There is no reason why our local charities should not benefit from it as well as schemes like the Fort Regent.
Oh, and I am still waiting to hear about when we are getting a new supermarket, like TescoAsda I hope.
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Before everyone gets too excited, here are some odds ….
UK lottery full jackpot – 1 in 14 million.
Putting that into perspective, always buy your ticket on a Friday or Saturday as you have a higher chance of dying earlier in the week!
You’re seven times more likely to get struck by lightning
20 times more likely to have quadruplets
1,100 times more likely to find a pearl in the oysters you would have been eating if you hadn’t wasted all your money on lottery tickets.
53 out of 54 tickets don’t win.
The odds of winning the Euromillions are a staggering 76 million to one.
A weekly player of the lottery can only expect to win the jackpot if they lived to be 300,000 years old.
But do I still play …….. of course !
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Finally!!!! I can stop asking people to buy me one from the mainland.
Although i do like our little scratchcards etc.
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It is important to ensure that the local charities do not loose out and as mentioned previously if the changeover to the UK lottery happens that funding is secured from Chamelot not just for the short term but long term as it will not be possible to reverse this situation in 5 – 10 years time if the funding arrangements expire.
Also I’d like to say that if this story was presented in a different manner like “10 More Jobs to go at Jersey Lottery Office” would everyone be just as happy about it?
There is no point saying we can keep both, get real… with a reduction in people buying the local tickets this will reduce the prize money which will make the UK variant even more attractive, vicious circle that the States have been protecting the local charities from for years. As always be careful what you wish for!
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Not forgetting jersey can claim for funds from uk for different projects.i,too get mine sent from relations only allowed 8 weeks at a time when bulk buying but suits me fine.
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what a waste of time. why have think twice buy local and then waste law drafting time to try and give people access to a particularly inefficient form of gambling?
why not just set up a casino so the money could be circulated in the Jersey economy and tourists might have something to do.
national lottery is just opium for the witless, not worth a moment of government time or money.
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If the Channel Islands ask for a small percentage of the UK take to be given to local charities everyone will be happy. I am sure the UK would be happy with this.
So why has it taken 15 years to get around to asking then???
Incompetence, maybe vested interests? Who knows?
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i dont think its right to come here,maybe if the states pay back what they owe uk for treating uk visitors in hospital,which was overcharged for decades!we cant have it both ways ,
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i think people will do both local and uk loterries.
after all it is some peoples only hope of getting a home of their own.
the hospice draw seems to go well, not over the top gambling if 10 people get together.
any money in it for agents or will you need a licence from the states?
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David Brown good point hospice are worthwhile. I am not happy lining other peoples pockets because they get handling fee. Have one of these for a different charity every week and there would be many more people in Jersey able to put down a good deposit on a house with a part share in a win, me thinks, and up to 52 different local charities given a big boost every year.
This would be a win-win for everyone. Or we could carry on with the top prize of £20,000 a week lottery that will barely buy you a new car. What do others think?
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Why can’t Jersey just change it’s own lottery system similar to UK?
If we could choose our own numbers (obviously fewer digits may be required) and raised the price of a ticket so the prize money looked more tempting then it may increase participants….we could also have a roll-over if the weeks lottery hadn’t been won.
How nice would it be to win a local lottery and have the slight possibility of buying a standard 3 bed house (if you’re lucky) with the jackpot
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…..Hospice manages to sell all of it’s tickets in good time because the jackpot is worth winning.
….and that’s at £300 per ticket!!
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BS,
Your argument at 27 is not bad.
Why not do a Jersey lottery the same as a UK one. We could even use the UK numbers. Even if the top prize was only £20,000 a week at first, with rollovers one would expect it to soon build up.
Statistically, if Jersey was part of the UK scheme we’d probably get a Jersey jackpot winner once a decade, so if we did our own one, that would be a £10m winner once rollovers were taken into account.
What a waste of time.
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BS Delux:- thats great but how would you feel if i came over to visit from the UK and scooped a four week rollover. Not very happy i suspect. Unless it is restricted to CI residents, then that would make as exclusive as the UK lottery.
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years ago, when a brand new house was £42,000
i think this was the first prize in the old style jersey lottery, priced at one pound.
or 50p for a half.
shows how much this island has become drunk with money.
got a bit of a hangover today though
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John Moat
I would sincerely be happy for you….it’a a lottery after all
I’m sure you wouldn’t begrudge me or another islander from winning the National Lottery should we be allowed to buy them.
It wouldn’t like to see it open to the world like some lotteries because the chance of winning would be near impossible, but it should be open to anyone who purchases a ticket in Jersey, Guernsey or any other Channel island. And good luck to all.
Just my opinion.
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I agree totally with mad foetus;
Just allow a casaino to open. It can be regulated and will generate income for the island along with giving people a chance to go out and be social instead of sitting in front of their television on a Saturday night gripping a piece of paper!
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….maybe a big extravagant casino Las Vegas style in the shape of a Jersey cow. It could even have rivers of Jersey Milk flowing through the interior with gondola rides
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Sadly a casino in the shape of a giant Jersey cow with rivers of milk and gondola rides theron is not as irrational as a lot of States’ policy.
Those of us who have seen the disaster of the Fort Regent leisure centre, the cavern, the Le Pas holdings debacle, etc await with gloom the Esplanade Quarter project.
It could easily be millions over budget and years late, stumbling from one disaster to another.
The only good thing is that it will fill the pages of the Evening Post for years to come!
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If we talk about a casino then I have 2 questions;
Why does it have to be a big extravagent project? Why can’t it be part of one of the hotels, such as the Grand or Pomme D’Or with a registration process 48 hours in advance for non guests of the hotel?
And secondly, why do people feel the need for this to be a States run project? All the States need to do is give the go-ahead and the rules for a private enterprise to open one and watch as tenders for the licence start coming in!
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I see some people are buying lottery tickets on-line as I used to do. Win £200 and it goes on to your lottery account no problem. Win a substantial amount and the lottery people check out identity and WILL NOT honour the prize money if you are a Jersey resident. Contact National Lottery for confirmation.
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Adrian
Do you know for sure that it was the States dragging their heels and not Camelot who didn’t want us to join?
As for seeing return from the UK lottery – it would be too small to be worth it. There are 65 million mugs in the UK who could potentially buy a ticket and only 100k in Jersey meaning we’d only see about 0.1% of any annual grant. Couple of grand here, couple there – pointless. Your better off supporting local lotteries.
p.s. prefer Mad foetus’ idea of a casino – far more return for Jersey.
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Oh well, if people are stupid enough to buy lottery tickets good luck to them.
However, if the queues in the shops are anything like the UK I guess I’ll be avoiding the shops even more than usual.
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joker mad foetus’ idea of a casino? He poo pooed the idea when I brought it up earlier!
Do you think the island authorities where keen for the plebs to have a chance of winning decent money over here?
I would say that yes they have blocked this. I am sure Camelot would have loved a bit of extra custom from such a rich group of islands. I still think even a 1% return from Camelot would still bring in more than at present. It is worth doing projections to see. If it means more money for local charities I say bring it on.
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I am all for a casino and we wouldnt even need to worry about dodgy charachters being involved because the states could run it. Or, I am sure they must know someone who would be capable of managing it to their good. If people want to go then good, if they dont then fine.
I think we would do well to host some larger poker tournaments that may help bring in revenue from tourism. i,e the people who come here and want to play in a large tournament.
You just need to look on the telly to see some of these tournaments held elsewhere. Poker sites offer tournaments to get a package to such events which include buyin, and spending money for hotel and flights. Money that will be spent in Jersey!!
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36 Michael
My comment was tongue in cheek and Pip picked up on that
I know of plenty of people in finance who earn very good money and have got into a huge amount of debt through gambling. unless proper regulation and controls are put in place I fear a casino will only encourage more people to blow their wages chasing that big win.
Revamping the local lottery to make it more attractive would be my suggestion.
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Adrian,
I have never knocked the idea of a casino. If you honestly think the powers that be have blocked either the casino or the lottery you are completely wrong.
Casinos are one of the most efficient ways of transferring money from the poor and stupid to the wealthy. If you think that a casino wasn’t allowed because the establishment wanted to stop ordinary people getting rich, well, let’s just say your logic evades me.
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Adrian
“Do you think the island authorities where keen for the plebs to have a chance of winning decent money over here?”
Eh? What are you on about? They have absolutely no reason to block this other than if it would be detrimental to local retailers and charities. Your conspiracy led mind is working overtime on this one – even for you!
If we’re “rich” how can we be “plebs” as well?
I didn’t say 1% (which would be good) I said ’0.1%’ or another way ’1/10 of 1%’. However I was assuming that there is a positive correlation between population numbers and purchase volume. It certainly won’t mean more money for charities, at best the same and more likely worse if we only see very small grants from the UK lottery. No projections needed, charities already have enough evidence to prove that when people are given more options to donate directly to charity or through indirect methods such as lottery funding, it only dilutes the total income.
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The States of Jersey have been discussing a casino until some time around the beginning of the 20th century.
I myself can remember a lot of casino debates and they always end with the rejection of the proposal.
In my opinion the island has missed the boat on this one. I know people who gamble fairly seriously and most of them now play online poker or other games.
There used to be regular private card games in the island but some of these have faded as the lure of the internet and the ability to play at any time of the day or night has advanced.
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The National lottery is a bit more complicated than we all think as it requires UK Parliament to change some primary legislation and the States would have to do the same and it means mirror regulations and it all gets a bit sticky if you get my drift… However, We could easily have a couple of £1,000,000 draws over hear at Christams and Easter – Start by raising the ticket price to £2 and “Bingo” we’re half way there ..
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Bingo.. Now there’s an idea! (just kidding, I think bingo’s rubbish)
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Mad foetus if you remember on one of the earlier threads you asked me for ways to generate revenue, as you said everyone moaned but no one came up with solutions, this was one way I suggested. If I remember correctly you rubbished all my suggestions maybe you have forgotten?
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There you go joker one of your heroes Senator Maclean has admitted the UK lottery would bring in 2 to 3 times more money for local charities on the Sunday phone in.
What’s your excuse now then?
We have wasted 15 years with a local lottery when we could have given islanders a chance of big life changing money instead of enough for a new posh new car.
Jersey is rich, but not everyone is rich in Jersey. This is why we have the so called plebs i.e. those that are looked down on by certain groups in the community, as they have little influence because they have little money, and are perceived as of little value.
This attitude is totally wrong but there are those who have this superiority complex in this island. They equate having more possessions and money than others as making themselves superior for some reason.
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tintin (47)
Don,t knock bingo,
great night out in uk.I won £2,500 regional prize in bathgate 3 years ago.although i was,st a member we got signed in.split winnings 3 ways as one does.never been since,but i would go if they had one here.
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Adrian,
I clearly stated that my estimations were based on population numbers and un-surprisingly I haven’t done any proper research into the matter other than making rational assumptions. I’m sure that Alan MacLean has done far more research that me – after all it is his job. If he thinks Jersey’s charities will benefit more from joining the UK lottery then I stand corrected on my assumption but I still maintain reports from charities that when you give potential donators more options to spend their money on donations tend to dilute.
So you’ll see I made no excuse. I simply stated I do not believe that our government forcibly prevented us from joining the UK lottery as it would serve no reason. If only you were as clear; anyone would assume by your facetious “my hero” comment you didn’t think much of the minister’s statement on the radio yourself – then you perform a U-turn and use it as the basis for your argument.
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Adrian
I forgot to mention – personally I don’t care for the National Lottery and will probably never buy a ticket (I never did when I lived in the UK). However I’m surprised how much you feel we have been so hard done by because we have not had the option. I surprised because you hate all that is greed and surely winning £5 million is totally pointless – who needs £5 million when several smaller prizes would be far more sensible? Whilst the lottery brings joy to some it is well documented that it has ruined many people’s lives – is this not what you hate about wealth? Also people on welfare who apparently can’t afford to buy their children decent food gamble it away on a chance in several million. Further, the company that runs it is a profit making organisation and won its bid over a rival bid by Branson for it to be run buy a not for profit organisation.
Surely it stands for all that you hate?
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