Demand soars for lottery aid
The retiring boss of Lotterywest has used her final annual report to warn sales from the State's Lotto are not keeping pace with "unprecedented demand" for funding.
State and Federal Government funding cuts, increased need from people in financial distress and the growth of the not-for-profit sector means for the first time Lotterywest is facing a "very significant gap" between available funds and demand.
"Demand is getting close to twice of what we have available," Lotterywest chief executive Jan Stewart told _The West Australian _.
"We've never had that before. We've never had infinite resources but we've mostly been able to juggle them until now.
"If the growth for our direct grants continues to grow (at this rate) it's inevitable that we will struggle to meet that demand. I mean there's no way we can double sales. So it's quite a challenge."
She said the demand was being driven by many factors, including the growth of the not-for-profit sector and cost pressures within it, an increase in community events such as the Beaufort Street Festival and a strong response to Lotterywest's marketing of its grants.
The economic downturn had also dried up some sources of funds, including government grants and fundraising, while increasing demand from those in need.
"In the last couple of years people are telling us about really strong competition for alternative fundraising and the difficulty of fundraising generally," she said.
"Some (government) funding programs do seem to have been cut or reduced significantly."
Lotterywest sales were $797 million in 2013-14, down 2.9 per cent from a record $821 million in 2012-13 and below the business' $801.7 million target.
Despite the decline the value of direct grants was a record $124.5 million thanks in part to an increase in unclaimed prize money and interest earned on investments.
