By Alan Sharpe, CFRE
Hospital lotteries and sweepstakes raise millions of dollars for good causes but they do more harm than good. Here’s why.
1. Hospital lotteries are unethical
Hospitals and healthcare charities are in the business of treating and preventing illness. Gambling is addictive. Gambling hurts gamblers and their families. Gambling addiction is a mental disorder that requires medical intervention in most cases to overcome. For hospitals to raise funds using a method that hurts the person giving the money is unethical.
2. Hospital lotteries harm a hospital’s reputation
Why does the Canadian Cancer Society require that its employees be non-smokers? Because smoking causes cancer. A charity that fights cancer cannot afford to also condone an activity that causes cancer. Their reputation would suffer. When the public perceives your organization as a major promoter of gambling, an activity that harms society, the shine comes off your reputation. Close ties to any activity that causes harm to people tarnishes your brand.
3. Hospital lotteries confuse donors
Buying a lottery ticket is not a philanthropic act. Gambling is not an act of charity, regardless of who is organizing the sweepstakes. Lottery ticket buyers do not receive a charitable tax receipt. According to the Canadian Medical Association, “The fuzzy line between gambling and giving gets even fuzzier when ticket buyers are treated like donors. In March 2008, for example, the Princess Margaret Hospital hosted a series of lectures on cancer research for 700 lottery participants, something once done only for large private donors.”
4. Hospital lotteries are risky
Lottery prizes are purchased, not received as gifts, which makes for a high break-even mark. Some charities have failed to reach it. Australian hospital operator Southern Health lost $590,000 on its lottery in 2006 when it sold only 60% of tickets.
5. Hospitals become addicted to gambling
Some hospital lotteries are so successful that the hospitals that run them can’t quit. The Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto, Canada, has raised over $170 million with its lottery over the past 13 years. According to the Canadian Medical Association, lotteries account for 30% of all private hospital funding, and, without them, hospitals would suffer. Hospitals are addicted to gambling revenues.
To read a fuller treatment of this topic, read “Hospital lotteries not always the best bet,” by Roger Collier in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. This article draws heavily from that article.
Leave a Reply