Beorn
05-18-2009, 01:16 PM
Call for Scotland to have own lottery
SNP move prompted by claim that funds have been diverted to London Olympics
The SNP is to call for Scotland to be given the power to run its own national lottery after claims that £150m of lottery funds have been diverted from Scottish good causes to fund the London Olympics.
The nationalist government is supporting a parliamentary move this week by SNP backbencher Christine Grahame to build support for a not-for-profit venture that would ensure all money raised in Scotland is spent in the country.
Scots would have a better chance of winning, although the jackpot would be smaller.
Grahame will table a Holyrood motion this week arguing that voluntary sector organisations and other good causes will otherwise suffer as the Camelot national lottery diverts funds towards the southeast of England.
She said: “The 2012 London Olympics are starving good causes in Scotland of millions of pounds. The national lottery, which is run for profit by Camelot is diverting more than £150m, earmarked for Scotland, to prop up an increasingly expensive 2012 Olympic Games.
“The national lottery model run by the Irish government [for Ireland], which has a comparable population size to Scotland, last year brought in £194m after cash prize payouts and operating costs, which went straight to a variety of good causes. Over 20 years, the Irish lottery has delivered £2.7 billion to good causes.
“It would make sense for Scottish ministers to be able to establish a Scottish National Lottery. It would prevent the effective robbing* of desperately-needed money from Scottish good causes and ensure that money raised in Scotland stayed in Scotland.”
A spokesman for Alex Salmond, the first minister, said: “There is a strong argument for the devolution of lottery responsibilities to Scotland so that we can generate a guaranteed funding stream for good causes in Scotland, through the development of a Scottish lottery.
“The National Conversation is the ideal vehicle for such arguments to be made, as we work to build up the powers of the parliament.”
Salmond said the £150m diverted from Scottish good causes to help fund the Olympics should be invested to deliver a Scottish legacy for the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games.
But the Labour party said Scottish good causes do well out of the UK lottery.
Source (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article6301719.ece)
*HAHAHAHAHA!!
Same old Scots. If they aren't comfortably living on the taxes of the English people, they are crying out for more at the expense of the English.
I sometimes wonder if the Scots are the white Negros of the world.
I can't wait to be rid of that country and every Scottish MP and official.
Good riddance.
SNP move prompted by claim that funds have been diverted to London Olympics
The SNP is to call for Scotland to be given the power to run its own national lottery after claims that £150m of lottery funds have been diverted from Scottish good causes to fund the London Olympics.
The nationalist government is supporting a parliamentary move this week by SNP backbencher Christine Grahame to build support for a not-for-profit venture that would ensure all money raised in Scotland is spent in the country.
Scots would have a better chance of winning, although the jackpot would be smaller.
Grahame will table a Holyrood motion this week arguing that voluntary sector organisations and other good causes will otherwise suffer as the Camelot national lottery diverts funds towards the southeast of England.
She said: “The 2012 London Olympics are starving good causes in Scotland of millions of pounds. The national lottery, which is run for profit by Camelot is diverting more than £150m, earmarked for Scotland, to prop up an increasingly expensive 2012 Olympic Games.
“The national lottery model run by the Irish government [for Ireland], which has a comparable population size to Scotland, last year brought in £194m after cash prize payouts and operating costs, which went straight to a variety of good causes. Over 20 years, the Irish lottery has delivered £2.7 billion to good causes.
“It would make sense for Scottish ministers to be able to establish a Scottish National Lottery. It would prevent the effective robbing* of desperately-needed money from Scottish good causes and ensure that money raised in Scotland stayed in Scotland.”
A spokesman for Alex Salmond, the first minister, said: “There is a strong argument for the devolution of lottery responsibilities to Scotland so that we can generate a guaranteed funding stream for good causes in Scotland, through the development of a Scottish lottery.
“The National Conversation is the ideal vehicle for such arguments to be made, as we work to build up the powers of the parliament.”
Salmond said the £150m diverted from Scottish good causes to help fund the Olympics should be invested to deliver a Scottish legacy for the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games.
But the Labour party said Scottish good causes do well out of the UK lottery.
Source (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article6301719.ece)
*HAHAHAHAHA!!
Same old Scots. If they aren't comfortably living on the taxes of the English people, they are crying out for more at the expense of the English.
I sometimes wonder if the Scots are the white Negros of the world.
I can't wait to be rid of that country and every Scottish MP and official.
Good riddance.