Buy your tickets now for the Worcester Community Lottery

 Tickets are on sale now for the Worcester Community Lottery - a new local lottery to raise funds for city charities and other good causes. The new Worcester Community Lottery gives players the chance to sign up at www.worcesterlottery.org for entry into a weekly draw and to choose which local causes they want to benefit from their subscription. 

Players have a one-in-50 chance of winning a prize, up to a maximum of £25,000. Many local good causes have already signed up to benefit from the Worcester Community Lottery and tickets have gone on sale today (March 26) ahead of the first prize draw on April 27. A 32GB Apple iPad will also be on offer to players who enter the first draw. The Mayor of Worcester, Councillor Jabba Riaz, said: "The new Worcester Community Lottery is an exciting fun way for city residents to support their favourite local good cause – and they might even scoop £25,000! "The great thing about this new lottery is that players can choose exactly which good cause they want to support when they sign up at www.worcesterlottery.org. And if they're not sure who to play for, they can back the community fund, which the City Council will distribute to good causes." Good causes that have already registered to benefit from the Worcester Community Lottery include youth clubs, sports clubs, arts organisations and medical charities. And more are coming on board all the time! Crossroads Caring for Carers was the first good cause to sign up for Worcester Community Lottery. Care Manager Helen Simmons said: "Crossroads Caring for Carers is here to improve the lives of carers by giving them a break from caring. Worcester Community Lottery is a great way of encouraging support for the important work that we do for city carers. We're supporting it in every way we can and are hoping it will prove to be a huge success." How to play Players can sign up for a subscription to the lottery at www.worcesterlottery.org. When they register, they will be asked to choose a local good cause to benefit from their ticket purchase or to opt to support the community fund – which the City Council will distribute to good causes. The local good causes that have signed up for the lottery are expected to encourage their supporters to play in order to raise funds for their activities. Tickets will cost £1 each, which will be divided as follows:

• 60p to good causes (50p to the player's chosen good cause / 10p to the community fund)
• 20p to the prize fund
• 16p to the lottery management company for administration and management
• 4p VAT.
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The top prize available in the weekly draw will be £25,000. The draw results and winners will be announced every Saturday at 8pm, with the first draw on April 27. Results will be posted at www.worcesterlottery.org, on Facebook and Twitter. Winners will be contacted directly. Each ticket will consist of six numbers and each number will be between 0 and 9. Each week's draw will see a six-digit winning combination picked. Prizes will be given to players with tickets that match the first or last two-six numbers from the winning combination. Match all six in order and you win the top prize. All players have a one-in-50 chance of winning a prize. The prize breakdown is:

• Match first or last two in order – three free tickets (odds – 56:1)
• Match first or last three in order - £25 (odds 556:1)
• Match first or last four in order - £250 (odds 5,556:1)
• Match first or last five in order - £2,000 (odds 55,556:1)
• Match six in order - £25,000 (1,000,000:1)

Good causes Local good causes have been signing up for the Worcester Community Lottery since February and more are coming on board all the time. More than 30 good causes are available at www.worcesterlottery.org for players to choose to support. Each good cause has a dedicated page on the website and receives 50% of every £1 ticket sold via that page. The money is paid directly to them each month. The good causes also benefit from the lottery's community fund –which the City Council distributes on an annual basis. Good causes do not have to pay to sign up for the Worcester Community Lottery and they are provided with free marketing materials to promote the lottery to their supporters. To register as a good cause with the Worcester Community Lottery, organisations need to meet a range of criteria, including being not-for-profit and provide community activities or services to the benefit of Worcester residents. Read the full list of criteria.