Tower Lotteries are delighted to have concluded a new seven-year contract to act as External Lottery Managers for Wiltshire Air Ambulance.
The agreement, the longest in the company’s history, extends a partnership that started a decade ago and, in this period, has contributed over £6.5m to the lifesaving work of the charity.
Wiltshire Air Ambulance need to raise £3.75m a year to keep their helicopter and RRVs (Rapid Response Vehicles) operational. In 2018, over £1m of this was raised by their lifesaving lottery alone, with Tower Lotteries handling every aspect of the draw on behalf of the charity. During this period, the charity conducted 1,103 missions, of which 494 were by helicopter and 609 by a rapid response vehicle and some of them were high profile incidents such as the Novichok poisoning in Salisbury. The charity can reach anywhere in the county within 11 minutes from their state-of-the-art base at Semington, and they now operate 19 hours a day.
Such is the popularity of the charity in Wiltshire and appreciation of the lifesaving service they provide in a rural county, that their lifesaving lottery is one of the most successful per-capita anywhere in the country. The challenge for Tower Lotteries and the fundraisers representing the charity, is to continue the excellent work of the last 10 years and attempt to increase membership further.
Speaking about the new contract, chief executive David Philpott said: “I am delighted that we have been able to sign up with Tower for another seven years.
“Not only have Tower consistently provided us with guidance in the complex and ever-changing world of lottery regulation, including helping us through successful Gambling Commission inspections, but they have also become friends of the charity on account of the many long-term relationships that have been established with key members of their staff.
“This longevity has been important in building trust and strategic direction between our two organisations. Over the next seven-year period we expect around £10m to be generated through our lotteries and for this reason it is good to know that, in Tower, we have a partner that is fully up to the task.”
