Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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Clearly the operator will want to give the biggest payback that is consistent with running an effective lottery because the bigger the prize, the more people play. Under the 1986 National Lottery Act, the minimum percentage of sales which may be paid out in prizes is 40%. I am proposing to increase it from 40% to 50%. Deputy McDonald suggests going a little further. From 40% to 50% is a significant increase in terms of the payout. When one balances giving a decent take of 6.5% to the retailers and maintaining the income stream for good causes, 50% is about right. There will be games when it will be considerably more than that, but that is the minimum. That is the floor; it is not the ceiling.