It may seem strange but a charity in aid of a young cancer sufferer is under investigation by the UK Gambling Commission. This is not necessarily because of anything untoward but because the chief fund raiser was so good at his job that he raised over £400,000. The Commission is involved because the method used to obtain the funds was by telephone cold-calling and selling raffle tickets to the public.

Under the Gambling Act 2005 anyone providing facilities for participating in a lottery needs a lottery operating licence from the Gambling Commission if annual aggregated proceeds reach £250,000 or more. Society lotteries are lotteries established for the benefit of a non-commercial society. A society is non-commercial if it is established and conducted: for charitable purposes; to enable participation in, or to support, sports, athletics or cultural activities; or for any other non-commercial purpose other than private gain.

To sell lottery tickets and receive payments by means of remote communication, i.e. not face to face but via telephone, fax or over the internet, an application for a remote gambling operating licence must be made in addition to a lottery operating licence. A personal management licence is also necessary unless classified as a small-scale operator. Generally small-scale operators have three or less people occupying a qualifying position as named on the operating licence.

According to the Gambling Commission register, the Cancer Fighting Fund applied for its operating licence a year ago, which was granted. However, the licence is non-remote, which could explain why officials from the Gambling Commission are now investigating the Fund and have searched its call centre. The Commission regulates gambling in Britain in order to keep crime out of gambling, to ensure that gambling is conducted fairly and openly, and to protect children and vulnerable people from being harmed or exploited by gambling. (E-08.08.08)

© Copyright 2008 CasinoCompendium



>>> return to archives
>>> return to frontpage