Mansfield District Council will launch a lottery – which will raise money for community groups and charities.
The authority will be the first to launch a lottery in Nottinghamshire – and it is expected to be up and running in four months’ time.
The authority says the lottery will add to the £95,000 the council pays each year in grants to local charities and groups.
Executive Mayor of Mansfield, Kate Allsop, today (July 18) agreed to the plans.
She said: “This is not to replace council funding but to boost it as there are many more local groups and causes we would like to support but can’t because we have a limited budget for this.
“Voluntary groups form the backbone of a thriving community so this can only be good for the district.”
Local authorities have been able to set up lotteries since legislation was passed in 2007.
But it is only in the last 12 to 18 months that councils have begun taking up the idea.
And several councils around the UK are now running lotteries to help community groups.
Aylesbury Vale District Council, in Buckinghamshire, raised £70,000 for good causes in the first three months of its weekly draw.
Mansfield’s lottery is expected to be run by an external company specialising in delivering local authority lotteries, and the company is expected to keep 20 per cent of the takings.
Another 20 per cent will go out in prize money and the remaining 60 per cent will be shared among charities.
The tickets are likely to cost £1 and the maximum prize money is likely to be £20,000, and anyone over the age of 16 will be able to enter.
The council will have to spend around £3,170 to set up the lottery but, after that, it should cost £348 to renew each year under the Gambling Commission licensing fee.
