Postcode Lottery UK has highlighted a survey suggesting the majority of Northern Irish people want charity lotteries to be permitted in the country.
As it stands, Northern Ireland is the only constituent country of the UK where charity lotteries are not active, but a legislator has been pushing for that to change.
Sian Mulholland, the North Antrim Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) from the Alliance Party, proposed the Lotteries for Communities Bill in May 2025.
If introduced to the Northern Irish Assembly and ultimately approved, the bill will allow charity lotteries like the Postcode Lottery to set up shop in the country. According to a poll reported by Belfast Live, and shared by the Postcode Lottery on Linkedin, the proposal has broad support.
An opinion poll of 1,017 people conducted by More in Common, on behalf of the Postcode Lottery, between 19 February-3 March, found that some 79% of respondents were in favour of making the change.
When proposing the bill last year, MLA Mulholland asserted that allowing society lotteries to operate in Northern Ireland would “create a whole new stream of funding for the community and voluntary sector”.
The proposal also received the backing of former US First Lady and 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who stated that at the time that she had seen first hand “how vital the charity and civil sector are” in Northern Ireland, and praised the benefits society lotteries could bring to this sector.
However, not everyone has been onboard. Allwyn UK – operator of the UK National Lottery, which is active in Northern Ireland – has argued that the changes would actually be detrimental to Northern Irish charities, many of which receive good cause funding from its own ticket sales.
The Christian Institute (CI) has also criticised the bill, arguing that the potential expansion of lottery options available to Northern Irish consumers could drive up problem gambling rates – something that politicians in the country have admittedly called for further action to address.
