§ 17. Mr. McCrindleasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations he has received from members of the public and other interested parties following the publication of his recent report on football pools and lotteries.
§ Mr. CarlisleA small number of letters have been received from members of the public about various aspects of the Report of the Interdepartmental Working Party on Lotteries. We do not expect to receive the comments of interested organisations until they have had an opportunity of studying the report in detail.
§ Mr. McCrindleI thank my hon. and learned Friend for that reply. May I ask him whether he has any plans to encourage the development of lotteries by local authorities for financing particular projects, especially at this time of reduced Government expenditure? May I ask him, secondly, whether he sees it as any part of his function to go along with one of the recommendations in the report and to tell the pools promotion companies the maximum prizes which they should offer?
§ Mr. CarlisleI ought to make it clear that the report was prepared by an interdepartmental working party and was intended to provide material to stimulate informed discussion. It has been put out for that purpose. It recommended that national lotteries should be limited to charitable, cultural, amenity and sporting purposes, although under its proposals local authorities would be able to take advantage of the higher maximum on small lotteries.
§ Mr. Alexander W. LyonIf the idea is to pay out more money on these matters, would it not be better to do it out of taxation rather than out of gambling?
§ Mr. CarlisleThe whole purpose of the working party report is to invite wide public discussion on this issue. It is the view of the working party in its recommendation on the limitation on pool betting that what is likely to happen is a shift in the total amount of betting rather than an increase in it.