New Community Lottery to launch in the Vale of White Horse next month

The Vale of White Horse District Council’s new lottery, the White Horse Community Lottery will launch in June with a special virtual event.

Organisations from the district’s voluntary and community sector will be invited by the council to attend the event on Monday 14 June to find out how they can benefit from income raised through the Vale’s new community lottery.

The event is to be held online due to Covid-19 restrictions, welcoming volunteers, staff and trustees from local voluntary organisations, as well as Vale of White Horse District councillors and the team from Gatherwell who will run the lottery on behalf of the council.

The lottery will have a weekly jackpot of £25,000 and will be available for residents to play online. The draw will take place every Saturday, with a jackpot going to anybody who matches a sequence of six numbers.  The other prizes are £2,000, £250, £25 or three free tickets.

Residents can get involved by buying tickets which will cost £1 per week with 50p going towards the player’s chosen local good cause. 10p of the remaining money goes into the central community fund, 20p to the prize fund, 17p towards the administration of the lottery, and 3p on VAT.

Proceeds from the White Horse Lottery central community fund will be spent on providing vital support to a wide range of local organisations and community initiatives which have a beneficial impact on the local community.

The first draw for the White Horse Community Lottery will take place in September.

Any community groups and charities operating in the Vale of White Horse wanting to register their interest and find out more are being asked to email communityenablement@southandvale.gov.uk.  

Cllr Margaret Crick, Chair of Vale of White Horse District Council said: “This is such a good way for local organisations and good causes to get much needed funding and for residents in the Vale to support the organisations that are important to them. By getting involved residents can make a difference to where they live in the district. It’s great that we have already had so much interest in the lottery and it hasn’t even launched yet. 

“I am really looking forward to hearing from local organisations at our launch event, about how funding from our new lottery will help them.”

Cllr Bethia Thomas, Cabinet Member for Community Engagement at Vale of White Horse District Council said: “I’m really pleased to be hosting the virtual event for our community lottery launch. It will be great to hear from local organisations that have benefitted from the SO Charitable Lottery so that VCS groups in the Vale can get inspired to register. This is all about local people helping organisations in their community.”