Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Okay. They have met many Deputies because they are facing withering competition from offshore companies that allow people to bet on lotteries. Those companies are competing with our national lottery, which is a major contributor to good causes. If one goes online, one can see how the stakes from the national lottery are distributed to good causes around the country under the good causes fund. The national lottery is a lottery, as we understand it, on a large national scale. At the moment, it is facing withering competition from offshore companies that allow people to bet on lotteries. They advertise on daytime television and elsewhere. As a result of their activities, good causes around the country are losing significant amounts of money. I am sure the national lottery will happily send the Minister of State a communication on this phenomenon. However, we have not heard a word about it.

It struck me as I listened to some of the Minister of State's descriptions that he might not be aware that institutions like hospices typically have a major raffle each year with a car as the prize. I have had a significant involvement with my local hospice in Blanchardstown over a long period of time. This kind of prize easily reaches the kind of value that has been mentioned by the Minister of State. Everybody in the community buys an expensive ticket as a way of contributing to the hospice. It is a big draw. The hospice sells lots of tickets. The prize-winning tickets are drawn in public. As I listen to the Minister of State, I have no idea what he is intending with regard to such raffles.

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