health lottery

[informashun]

i hope as many people as possible, my freinds dont, know that out of the one pound per line 20p goes to the nhs and the odds of winning £50 are 214 to1.
what a rip of allround and no wonder eamon holmes has ducked out.
what are your veiws?

[VHG]

I am not sure ANY of the money goes to the NHS. The web site says

"Health Lottery money is available to local initiatives that help people to lead longer, healthier lives. The Health Lottery doesn’t fund services covered by existing NHS funding, and those causes that do benefit are chosen by local people in association with our partner charity the Peoples Health Trust".

[factor-fiction]

All these lotteries are a rip-off to some extent.
I suppose that if the lottery tickets aren't value for money those who want to help the NHS or charity could ask if they could just make a donation direct to charity. Those odds sound pretty similar to National Lottery odds

[Everhelpful]

Who really cares? Most people do Lotteries to win big money.

[barry1010]

Don't see how it's a rip.
The cost of producing and distributing the tickets, the advertising, the profit for the seller, the profit for the organisers and the prize money all add up.

With the National Lottery 28p in the pound goes to charity.

[Buenchico]

The Health Lottery pays out a higher percentage of its taking as prizes than the National Lottery does (57% as against slightly over 50%) but, as stated above, a lower percentage to to good causes.

While I have no doubt that Northern & Shell (who run the Health Lottery and who also own the Daily Express, Daily Star, OK! and Channel 5) will want to make more profit than the 0.5% of takings which Camelot get from the National Lottery, they'll have many of the same overheads that Camelot have, so their own percentage profit will still be quite low.

Odds of 214 to 1, for receiving a prize of 50 times the stake are (in general betting terms) extremely good. I've run plenty of local lotteries (for schools and other good causes). If I had a £100 first prize on offer, with tickets at £1, I'd be seeking to sell at least 5000 tickets. A 5000 to 1 (or slimmer) chance of winning first prize is perfectly normal in local lotteries.

Perhaps the thing that some people would want to complain about is where 12% of the sales from both lotteries go to. i.e. HM Government!

Chris

[boxtops]

It's a deceiving name - Health - it doesn't sound (until you look into it) as if it will go to the Health Service.

However I must admit that this was why I got cheesed off with the main Lottery when it started - it made it sound as if people could easily apply for funding from it, then when we tried, they made it difficult and worthy local charities weren't benefiting at all.

[daisya]

I would much prefer to see a lottery like the Irish Hospital one or here where most of the money goes to the NHS but is regulated as to where it's distributed.

[jon1968]

All seemed a bit dodgy to me from the off! The bloke who runs it determines where the ‘charity’ money goes! Bet his mates who run care homes are rubbing their hands with glee! Anyhoo, the odds of winning the £100K jackpot are pretty much the same as getting 5 + the bonus ball on the normal lottery, which is rarely less than £100K anyway, and has been as much as £700K.

[Everhelpful]

jon,£3.8 million for SATURDAY'S Draw,Think that tells a story.

[jon1968]

What story would that be? The National lottery prize fund has been diluted as they bring in more and more games I think? I'm sure when it was just a Saturday it was about £14m wasn't it? Now with Wednesday, the plus 5 malarky, scratchcards and whatnot their still getting the same overall revenue?

The thing with the odds is that you've just as much chance of getting 5+ the bonus (astronomical) as you have of winning the heath lottery.

[Twenty20]

I remember this being covered by the BBC not so long ago. Most of the people who they asked said they expected the money to go to hospitals etc and were surprised when told it wouldn't.

Personally I wouldn't touch it unless it was clearer where the money was going.

[sophie_1003]

I thought it was a bit of a con in terms of making people think the money went places it doesn't but in terms of prizes it's actually pretty generous: the chances of matching 3 numbers on the National Lottery is 1 in 57 but you only get £10; the next option up is to match 4 numbers and you get £62 but the chances are 1 in 1033; so for just an extra £12 to the Health Lottery your chances drop a lot.