People's Millions
In a previous blog entry called Lottery Waste, I suggested that it might be a good idea for all lottery play slips to have a "Good Cause Checklist" on the reverse so that we could have some say in how the charitable percentage of our money should be used. This hasn't happened yet, and maybe it never will, but this November ITV are heading in the right direction by teaming up with the Big Lottery Fund to present the biggest People's Millions competition yet.
For those of you who aren't aware of The People's Millions, allow me a moment to explain the concept. A specified number of lottery grants are made available and different groups across the country compete to win one of them. The winners are determined by public vote, so theoretically the grants are awarded to those good cause groups that the majority of voters want them to be awarded to.
I say theoretically because there have been so many phone-voting scandals that have come to light over the past twelve months that completely trusting the system would be a tad silly. Having said this, ITV are well aware of the controversy surrounding phone-in voting and are therefore likely to be working hard to ensure that the system is as honest and squeaky-clean as it possibly can be for The People's Millions competition.
Anyway, back to the competition itself. The People's Millions 2007 competition has ninety grants of £80,000 each up for grabs, and a shortlist of the finalists will be published at the end of this month. Then, between 26 and 30 November, regional ITV channels will present information about those projects that are in the running for the local area. The rest, as you can guess, is pretty straightforward - viewers decide which project they think is most deserving of a lottery grant and phone the appropriate number to register their vote.
Whilst I still maintain that having a Good Cause Checklist on the reverse of every lottery play slip is a good idea, The People's Millions is without doubt a whole lot better than leaving the awarding of lottery grants entirely in the hands of bureaucrats, and for this reason I think it deserves our support. So keep your eyes peeled between 26 and 30 November, consider the projects in your region with care and then cast your vote accordingly.
Article Last Updated: 23/10/2007 15:43:37
