Churches unite to attack 'damaging' lottery
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Senior representatives of Britain's main churches attacked the National Lottery yesterday, accusing it of undermining public culture and damaging society.
In the first official cross- denominational statement since the lottery was introduced last year, the Council of Churches for Britain and Ireland said that the public benefit served by proceeds from the weekly draw and scratch cards had failed to compensate for the harm being done to the vulnerable and poorer sections of society.
After a meeting of its social responsibility representatives, the findings will be passed on to church leaders. The council said in a statement read by the Rt Rev David Sheppard, the Bishop of Liverpool: "One of the achievements of government legislation in the 20th century has been the regulation of gambling. The National Lottery threatens recklessly to dismantle those regulations.
"The National Lottery's huge advertising budget, coupled with publicity in the media, has created a considerable likelihood of gambling harm with little prospect of public benefit."
The lottery was undermining "the public culture", in which "money from taxation, charities working at national and local levels, central and local government have co-operated to sustain the common good".
The council called on the Government to commission independent research on all aspects of the lottery and urged Parliament to establish a Gambling Research Council. It also demanded that no more licences for Instant game scratch cards be issued, that the minimum age for playing the lottery be raised to 18, and the size of jackpots limited to around pounds 1m. And on the day after more than 600 charities were awarded pounds 40m of lottery cash, the council also reminded people that the most effective way of helping charities was by donations.
A Camelot spokesperson said last night: "It's disappointing that the Church is taking such a negative view of the National Lottery, which is enjoyed by 30 million players each week and has raised over a billion pounds for good causes to date. Parliament decided that the minimum age for playing the National Lottery should be 16, and we believe this is the right age. The minimum age for doing the Pools is also 16. We are confident that our prize structure will maximise returns to the good causes."
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