The phrase "gross profits tax" does not mean much to me, but an extra £45m a year for good causes sounds like a story and, thanks to the Tories, it's now apparent that there's a very good chance that this will be one of the announcements in the budget.
To explain briefly: Camelot has to pay 12% duty when they sell a lottery ticket, before they pay out any prizes. They want to move to a system where they would instead pay tax after the prize money was paid out.
They claim that this would enable them to increase the prize money available for certain games so that more people would play, the cash available for good causes would go up, and there would also be more money for the Treasury (and Camelot too).
It sounds like wishful thinking, but this is the way that many lotteries work abroad, the number-crunchers say the figures stack up and Camelot has already persuaded the Tories that it's a good idea.
Listening to Gerry Sutcliffe, the culture minister, who was asked about the proposal on Today, it sounds like they've almost persuaded the government too.
He said he was "very sympathetic" to the proposal, which Camelot claims could raise an extra £45m for good causes by 2012, and he hinted about an announcement in the budget.
Officially the government isn't saying any more, but with Gordon Brown vulnerable to the charge that he is siphoning off too much lottery money for the Olympics, this could be a useful headline.
