SMARTLOTT

Why is the Smartlott such a damp squib?

Word is the Shetland Retailers Association, who run the Smartlott in conjunction with the Smartcard loyalty card are considering closing down the Smartlott side of the business.

It's run for the best of reasons i/ the prize money stays in Shetland (normally) and ii/ funds are raised for local charities.

The idea is that instead of sending millions of quid (or whatever it is) every year to Camelot to distribute throughout the UK the money raised in Shetland would stay in Shetland and be used for charitable purposes in Shetland.

It would seem that the idea simply hasn't caught on with the general public in Shetland and I was wondering if anyone has any theories why?

Is it;

a/ poor marketing by the SRA

b/ lack of media support

c/ prizes too small

d/ shops not trying hard enough to sell Smartlott

e/ public apathy

f/ something else

I would be interested to hear what the rest of the forum think.

Personally I'm in favour of it. The less money we send sooth, never to be seen again, the less we'll have going round here.

This is a good question dB, personally i haven't even considered buying a smartlott ticket and, on initial thought, don't even know why, i'll have to think about that.

(Hope you don't mind if we turn your question into a poll also, it seems fitting.)

Good question.

I've never bought a smartlott ticket. Hardly ever use my smartcard either. Thats probably because very few retailers will ask for it and I seldom remember it.

It's probably a combination of reasons. Yes the money is going to local charities, but you dont know which charities. Another thread on this forum suggests there is a lot of doubt about the worth of dogs against drugs, perhaps if people felt their money was going somewhere they did not approve of that could put them off buying.

The prize money is not huge and does anybody know the odds of winning a prize? Maybe more publicity about the number of prizes and odds of winning could help.

Does anyone know what happens to the profits from the smartlott (if, indeed, there are any)? I dont but I wouldnt be happy if I thought it was used to pay for the smartcard system, which is an assumption many could be forgiven for making.

Maybe it would work better if instead of gaining points, you got one free entry to the draw for every 100 points on your card!

Just thinking aloud here really, but it might be some food for thought.

Easy answer. Shetland Smartcards or at least mine has no number on it and I cannot remember what address I gave when I first got the card so I could win and not even know it.

And of course the matter of the National Lottery's £1 ticket could bring much greater rewards.

I've never bought a Smartlott ticket either and probably never will, and the reasons are manyfold. As has been said the idea behind it all with money going to local good causes is good and honourable, but from there it has no attraction. I buy one entry in each of the two National Lottery main draws each week (total £2.00), and that is really all the money I'm prepared to put towards any lottery anywhere at any one time, as I believe the odds of actually getting any return whatever lottery it is is minimal. The prizes, even in the national one, unless for 5 numbers, or more, are hardly life changing, and in the local one, while not to turn your nose up at, aren't anywhere near enough to make you go out of your way to buy a ticket either, the availability of ticket outlets is another discouraging factor, none of my local shops participate as far as i know, and even in Lerwick almost all who do, either I have never been in, or am only a very occasional customer. And finally, as has also already been stated, I would very much like to know where all proceeds went, as while there are many very worthwhile local charities, there are one or two, whom I disagree in the strongest possible terms with their mission statement, and would boycott the lottery if they were among those benefitting. Come on SRA people, isn't it time a full Smartlott balance sheet was published, to Cardholders at least, if not to the general public.

Personally, I don't really agree with the whole Shetland Smartcard concept, it certainly hasn't encouraged me to support local business any more, if anything it's had the opposite effect, comparing price tickets when considering a purchase to find the best deal has become doubly difficult, as you now have to factor in the points value when getting a quote from a participating retailer, so that you can get a fair comparison with the quote from a non-participating one. I'd much rather the whole Smartcard scheme was scrapped and the current costs of operating it borne by participating retailers (which can't be insignificant give the staff and hardware involved), passed on instead to their customers as price reductions on the shelves. I decide what I buy, and from whom I buy it, on the basis of value for money alone, so the lower the price tag, the more likely I am to be persuaded to support local outlets, than look elsewhere for a better deal. Which invariably means the entire purchase cost goes outwith Shetland, with higher ticket purchases being the most likely to be made "sooth", a highly unfortunate situation, as it doesn't take very many multi hundred/thousand £ Sterling ticket items to start making a real difference to an indivdual local business. I don't think many people want or enjoy taking their business outwith Shetland, but every individual is just trying to get by best they can on what they've got, and shouldn't be expected to act as charities by contributing to a pot, to keep local retailers in the style they have grown accustomed to, when a better deal is available to them elsewhere. I think the term "the law of supply and demand" applies.

This is a good question dB, personally i haven't even considered buying a smartlott ticket and, on initial thought, don't even know why, i'll have to think about that.

(Hope you don't mind if we turn your question into a poll also, it seems fitting.)

No problem making it into a poll.

However, I would vote for the first five options equally if I could.

I think that local charities are more than capable of getting money for their own pet projects. It always seems to me as though half of Shetland is applying for grants to provide projects for the other half.

My money goes to the National Lottery. I prefer to help the national charities. I also prefer the bigger wins, although I must admit that my biggest win was limited to 5 balls - £1,288 - hardly earth-shattering, but well needed at the time.

I use my SmartCard when I remember but in 3 years of poor pay or benefits I have only managed to rack up £13.

Most of my money now goes off the island as I need to make sure that I get the best for the little that I earn. The SIC, Somerfield and Co-op see more of my money than anyone else. After that eBay and Amazon see most of the rest.

Ultra-top sources of the highest order say the SmartLott draw will definitely come to an end next month, although whether there will be a final draw at the end of May is not yet clear.

As to why it has failed, well I haven't a scooby.

Ultra-top sources of the highest order say the SmartLott draw will definitely come to an end next month, although whether there will be a final draw at the end of May is not yet clear.

 

As to why it has failed, well I haven't a scooby.

It's failed because not enough tickets have been bought. Simple as that. Seems like Shetland folk are great at supporting one-off high profile fund raisers (children in need, the relay thing, the scanner thing) but not so great at supporting an on-going local lottery which raises money for Shetland charities.

I think it's a combination of a lot of things. Some retailers push it quite well and this is shown when the prize winners are announced. However a lot of retailers don't bother (can't think why).

I believe there are over 10,000 Smartcards in circulation. If every cardholder had spent an average of £1 a week the Smartlott would have been a runaway success with a good chance of winning a decent prize. I believe about half the income goes out in prizes so £5000 a week in prize money would have encouraged more people to enter, thus pushing up the prizes and the charity income even further.

I have stopped doing the national lottery due to the almost impossible odds - you can get 5 out of 6 numbers and pick up under a grand. Noce to win but hardly enough to retire and the chances of getting five numbers is remote.

A well-supported local lottery could give far better odds.

I think it's a shame that it looks like it's going to fold. As I said, every cardholder spending an average of just £1 a week would have made a huge difference.