THE Rehab Group is considering a legal challenge to the "monopoly" of the National Lottery. This follows a dramatic drop in Rehab's annual lottery sales from £10 million to £5 million since the National Lottery was established in 1987.
The charity has been campaigning strongly against the cap on prizes which stipulates that the total rewards on offer cannot be more than £10,000 a week. It is understood that the Rehab Group is also considering taking a case to the Competition Authority.
A spokesman for the group last night expressed deep disappointment with the contents of a letter from the Taoiseach, Mr Bruton, to the Fianna Fail spokesman on equality and law reform, Dr Michael Woods.
In the letter, dated July 25th, Mr Bruton said he understood that a report from the Advisory Group on Charities due to be available in September would recommend the removal of the cap on prize limits. However, he added, he intended at that stage to refer the report to the Oireachtas Legislation and Security Committee.
In all the circumstances, he said, it was not proposed to make any changes in the regulations governing lotteries in advance of the reform of the law relating to administration and regulations of charities.
According to a Rehab spokesman, the Taoiseach's letter implied no changes this year or in early 1997 "that might level the playing pitch".
Dr Woods insisted that the limit on the weekly prize fund for Irish charitable lotteries should be raised immediately to £100,000 to ensure their survival.
"The Government, through its callous delay in taking action, is directly responsible for the losses of these worthy charities", he said. This situation has arisen because of the Government's insistence on maintaining the present prize fund limit, and increased competition from the Irish and British lotteries and from bookies where no prize limits are imposed.
The Taoiseach had confirmed that the Government accepted the need for changes to the current cap on prizes and acknowledged that there was a power under existing legislation whereby the Minister for Justice could make regulations raising the cap, Dr Woods said.