Mr. John McGuire:

In the context of the profitability of the scratch cards, as has already been mentioned, Rehab has a portfolio of lottery products, and unfortunately the scratch cards are the sick baby in the family in that they are not as profitable as the other products we offer. Each year we are making in excess of €2.5 million in net proceeds from all our lottery activity. Scratch cards have suffered because sales have gone down. Sales in the year to which the Minister referred in the Dáil, 2010, were just under €4 million. They have dropped progressively over the years, because of the unfair cap on charity lotteries, from €10 million to just under €4 million.