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Lottery Rules

 

  1. The Friends of The Money Co-op Lottery (FoTMCL) provides a simple not-for-profit game of chance with the sole aim of assisting The Money Co-op (TMC). No TMC member will be ever placed in a situation of pressure to take part in the lottery and will be free to join, adjust their number of entries or leave the lottery freely.
  2. Membership of TMC is an absolute condition of entry to the FoTMCL lottery. If a member leaves TMC their FoTMCL lottery membership ends
  3. The FoTMCL will run what is known as a ‘Small Society Lottery’.[1]
  4. The lottery must be registered[2] with the local authority of the borough in which The Money Co-op’s (TMC) head office is based.
  5. The FoTMCL is not a charity and therefore does not require a constitution[3].
  6. The FoTMCL is organised and financed independently from The Money Co-op but run for the credit union’s benefit and under agreement with the credit union, FoTMCL operations are delivered by the credit union staff team.
  7. The Lottery will be drawn on the second Tuesday of every month.
  8. 50% of the total lottery income each month will be given in prizes.
  9. The prize structure[4] is monitored and adjusted by (FoTMCL) Secretary to ensure it is aligned with 50% of lottery entry funds.
  10. Prize information will be offered to the credit union for TMC to published on its website.
  11. 50% of the lottery income will be donated to the TMC without any conditions on its use.
  12. These lottery rules will obviously and clearly be displayed on the website of TMC.
  13. Prizes will be paid directly into the share accounts of the winning TMC member.
  14. FoTMCL participants are allowed a up to a maximum of 10 (ten) £1.00 lottery entries per month.
  15. Results of the monthly lottery draw will be displayed on the TMC website and, where available, on various social media.
  16. Only the prize winners first name and broad location (e.g., Town, City, borough or county) will be used in any prize announcements, unless previous permission, from the prize winner, has been obtained beforehand.
  17. The FoTMCL Committee is responsible for ensuring the integrity of the financial affairs of the lottery and will review the FoTMCL accounts at least annually with audits commissioned periodically, at least once every 5 years.
  18. The FoTMCL annual accounts will be presented after the TMC annual general meeting.
  19. The computer software, used for the selection of the monthly prize winners, will be scrutinised periodically, and at least every 4 years, to obtain assurances as to the draw randomness, to the FoTMCL Committee.
  20. The FoTMCL Committee will comprise of trustees drawn from the credit union board and staff team with a further two credit union members who are neither director nor staff of the credit union.
    1. Two TMC employee’s maximum, minimum one (one of which will be the secretary).
    2. Three TMC board director’s maximum, minimum two
    3. Two non-TMC board director, non-TMC employee members, minimum one.
  21. The minimum number of FoTMCL trustees for an adequate quorum for competent business at a Trustee meeting will be four.
  22. The FoTMCL committee will have one formal meeting annual with additional informal sessions as required.
  23. The monthly draw of the lottery must always be conducted and witnessed by two TMC employees, with occasional attendance by FoTMCL committee members.
  24. Neither FoTMCL Committee members, TMC Board members nor TMC staff shall participate in the Lottery.
  25. Lottery monthly entries are collected, from TMC members, only by means of deduction from members’ Regular Shares account.
  26. Cash entries to the lottery cannot be be accepted.
  27. Once an TMC’s members instruction, to commence or increase a lottery amount, is received the action will take place at the next available monthly draw date.
  28. Notice to cease, or reduce, any TMC member lottery entries must be received by the end of the week preceding the next lottery draw.
  29. Lottery deductions are not refundable, otherwise than at the discretion of the FoTMCL Secretary, after the cut-off date of the Friday prior to the next available draw.
  30. Members that leave and cancel TMC membership will automatically be withdrawn from future lottery entries.
  31. The board of directors of TMC may curtail the lottery at any stage.
  32. TMC is responsible for the promotion the lottery to the members of the credit union.
  33. Records of winners and activity of the lottery must be retained for three (3) years.[5]
  34. In accordance with the requirements for a Small Society Lottery, returns will be submitted to the Local Authority monthly upon each draw.[6]
  35. The minimum age for participation in FoTMCL is sixteen (16) years of age[7].
  36. A member of TMC that becomes a delinquent[8] borrower, or in dispute with the TMC, will be excluded from participation in the lottery until the period of delinquency, or dispute, is deemed ended by TMC.

[1] Societies that run small society lotteries, that is to say lotteries in which no more than £20,000 worth of tickets are put on sale and where the society’s aggregate proceeds from lotteries do not exceed £250,000 a year may operate without a Commission licence provided they register with their licensing authority. Where it becomes apparent that a small society lottery will exceed either of the monetary limits, it is the responsibility of the society to ensure they apply to the Commission for a licence, before the limit is exceeded. The promoting society of a small society lottery must, throughout the period during which the lottery is promoted, be registered with a licensing authority in England and Wales or a licensing board in Scotland.

 

[2] The address of the FoTMCL registered address is 1 Angel Square, Manchester, M60 0AG, Tel: 0345 602

[3] Gambling Commission website states: If you want to organise a lottery syndicate with colleagues at work or among a group of friends you do not need a licence or any kind of permission. However, to run a syndicate, you must ensure that it is operating in a certain way in order to avoid being classed as ‘promoting a lottery’ under the Gambling Act 2005. The following example illustrates how a lottery syndicate works. You do not need a licence if you, as the organiser of a lottery syndicate purchase tickets from a lottery and distribute the winnings amongst the syndicate members. However, to run a syndicate, you must ensure that it is operating in a certain way in order to avoid being classed as promoting a lottery under section 252 of the Gambling Act 2005.

[4] How the 50% is paid out, as individual prizes in amounts, size and frequency.

[5] For society and local authority lotteries promoted under licence from the Commission, accounting records must be retained for a minimum of three years from the date of any lottery to which they relate, and they must be made available for inspection by the Commission on request. These records must contain, in respect of each lottery, details of the:

  • the total proceeds
  • the amount allocated to prizes
  • the amount of proceeds allocated to expenses, and details of those expenses
  • the amount applied directly to the purposes of the society or the purposes for which the local authority has power to incur expenditure as the case may be
  • the number of sold and unsold tickets in each lottery.

 

[6] Every society registered with a local authority to run small society lotteries must submit a statement providing the following information:

  • the date on which tickets were available for sale or supply and the date of the draw
  • the total proceeds of the lottery (remote and non-remote)
  • the amounts deducted by promoters of the lottery in providing prizes, including rollovers
  • the amounts deducted by the promoters of the lottery in respect of costs incurred in organising the lottery
  • the amount applied directly to the purpose for which the promoting society is conducted or for which the local authority has power to incur expenditure (at least 20% of the gross proceeds)
  • whether any expenses incurred in connection with the lottery were not paid for by deduction from the proceeds, and, if so, the amount of expenses and the sources from which they were paid.

A registered society’s statement must be sent to the local authority within three months beginning on the day the draw (or last draw) in the lottery took place. It must be signed by two members of the society appointed in writing for that purpose by the society’s governing body and accompanied by a copy of that appointment.

 

[7] The minimum age for participation in a society or local authority lottery is 16 years of age. A person commits an offence if they invite or allow a child to enter such a lottery. Licensed societies and local authorities running lotteries must have written policies and procedures (in FoTMCL case these rules) in place to help prevent and deal with cases of under-age play.

[8] The definition of delinquency is entirely the decision of TMC.