FROM THE BOUNDARY By Tony Becca
IT IS said that two is better than one, and in most things, that is so.
Two is not always better than one, however, and when it comes to money for sport in this country, it is, right now, certainly not so.
When there was one lottery in this country, there was money for sport - not what sport really needed, or wanted, but enough to go around. Now that there are two lotteries, however, money for sport is less than it used to be.
Those in sport, those who love sport, those who see the benefit of sport in the development of young people, those who appreciate the impact of sport on the psyche of the nation, and those who know the importance of sport to the society and what it can contribute to the economy should be concerned.
Apart from the sponsorship and the assistance of the private sector, sport in this country is supported by the Government, it does so through the Sports Development Foundation, the foundation is funded by taxes on the first lottery company, and according to a report tabled at the quarterly meeting of the National Council of Sports recently, the foundation is in trouble. It is now losing money.
In other words, it is not getting as much money from the lottery as it used to do.
According to the report, in 1997 the SDF's income from the lottery was more than $168 million per annum, in 1998 it was a little more than $177 million, in 1999 it was a little more than $183 million, and in 2000 it was a little more than $169 million. With the past six months of the year showing a drop in income, however, last year, in 2001, it was a little more than $129 million.
That is $40 million less than the previous year.
There are two reasons for the shortfall.
The first reason is that the money - the tax from the lottery to the SDF - was cut from 10 per cent of the proceeds from the sales of tickets by the first lottery company to 7.5 per cent after the gas riots in 1999, and although the Government attempted to compensate sports by offering 50 per cent of the income from unclaimed prizes and free tickets that, as expected, has amounted to a few dollars.
People hardly leave their winnings unclaimed - unless it is so small that it is not worth the time, the gas, the bus fare, or the taxi fare to go for it.
The second reason is that a second lottery came into the market in June last year, it has reduced the ticket sales of the first lottery, because of that, less money is passing from the first lottery to the SDF, and not one cent of the taxes collected from the second lottery goes to sport through the SDF.
With the gas riots taking away 1.5 per cent, and with the second lottery reducing ticket sales of the first lottery and thus its contribution to the SDF, sport is in for a rough time, and remembering that the idea behind the first lottery was to find a way to fund sport, remembering that the licence to operate was granted because 10 per cent of the sales would go to sport, and remembering that the government, in stopping other allocations to sport, said time and time again that that was its contribution to sports, the government should do something about it.
There has been no gas riot since 1999, hopefully there will be no more, and instead of sticking with the 7.5 per cent for sport, the government should return to the original 10 per cent.
As far as the second lottery is concerned, since the first one was granted a licence because of its promise to fund sport development, it stands to reason that sport should not lose because of the coming of a second one. The government therefore, should either not have granted a second licence or it should also pass the tax from the second one on to sport through the SDF.
The government has been doing a lot for sport and for sport development and by linking sport with tourism it has recognised the importance of sport to the society in many areas and how it can use sport. It should not, therefore, back away now.
Sport cannot help tourism and the country unless the country continues to produce champion sportsmen and sportswomen, the country cannot produce champion sportsmen and sportswomen without facilities, without coaching, clinics and seminars, without exposure and without competition, and all those things are not possible without a fully funded Sports Development Foundation.
It is time, therefore, for those in sport to stand up for sport.
Sport needs more funding, not less.
