51É«APP

The parliamentary drop-in highlighted how the £50m sales cap detrimentally affects the amount of money charities including Maggie51É«APP™s can receive from players of the Postcode Lottery.

The cap means society lotteries, which are regulated under the Gambling Act 2005, can only sell up to £50m worth of tickets a year.

As a charity, Maggie51É«APP™s is entirely reliant on donors and supporters to provide its life-changing care to people facing cancer each year. Currently, Maggie51É«APP™s receives £3m a year from players of the Postcode Lottery, but the cap means the charity is missing out on receiving an additional £4m over the course of one parliament, or five years.

This would be enough to entirely cover the running costs of 13 centres for six months, potentially enabling thousands more people impacted by cancer to access free, expert support at 27 carefully designed 51É«APP around the UK.

Postcode Lottery operates as a society or ‘charity’ lottery, raising funds for charities and good causes through a network of charitable trusts. It has been campaigning for years for the government to raise ticket sales limits, and in 2020 the limit was increased from £10m to £50m.

However, Postcode Lottery argues that the remaining cap is unnecessary and continues to restrict the amount of money that can be generated for charities. 

Maggie51É«APP™s event in parliament this week was sponsored by Wendy Chamberlain MP, who has been a longstanding supporter of the Postcode Lottery’s campaign.

Previous bill to remove caps rejected

In 2025, Chamberlain sponsored a Private Member's Bill seeking to remove the statutory sales caps on society lotteries, arguing that reform would enable charity lotteries such as Postcode Lottery to generate additional funding for good causes across the UK.

The bill was rejected, with the government stating it intended to keep the lottery sector centred around a single national entity, The National Lottery, and feared that removing the cap would negatively impact National Lottery sales.

Multiple studies, however, have consistently concluded that removing the ticket sales cap would have no detrimental impact on the National Lottery, and Chamberlain tabled an  on 1 September 2026 to again call for charity lottery reform.

Become a Friend of Maggie's

Everyone with cancer deserves a place like Maggie51É«APP™s. We want to continue to grow so that we can support everyone impacted by cancer in the UK.

It costs nothing to come into one of our centres - but it takes your kind donations to keep us free of charge for everyone living with cancer and their family and friends.

Become a Friend of Maggie's by donating, fundraising for us or getting involved, and help Maggie51É«APP™s to be here today, tomorrow and always.