National mockery

2003-08-17 21:18

Barnie Louw

Cape Town - The Lotto-playing public is being hoodwinked.

"It is a national disgrace," Mark Lowe, Democratic Alliance spokesperson on trade and industry, added on Sunday.

He was reacting to an answer to his parliamentary question that only 7.6%, R287m, of Lotto earnings were allocated to charity organisations last year.

During the same period, sales of Lotto tickets amounted to about R3.8bn.

Of this amount, R640m (17%) was spent on administration and about R1.9bn (49%) on prize money.

About R1bn (27%) was available to allocate to deserving organisations, but only R287m found its way to these institutions.

"It is a mere 7.6% of ticket sales and only 28% of the money that was available for this purpose," Lowe said.

"Given the poor financial state of many charities, it is a national disgrace that the situation can continue in this way."

He said the fact that Lotto money was not distributed as was widely claimed, bordered on deceiving the Lotto-playing public.

- Die Burger