Express newspapers chief Richard Desmond has been urged to increase the amount of cash his new "health lottery", launched on Tuesday, will raise for good causes after the sweepstake was branded a "disgraceful development" by a leading charity figure.
The new lottery – run by Desmond's Northern & Shell, which also owns Channel 5 – offers a £100,000 top prize for matching five numbers out of 50.
Tickets will cost £1, with 20.3p of the price going back into local health projects across the country. Charity organisations warned that this was the bare minimum that a lottery provider could donate from ticket sales – whereas the National Lottery gives 28p in every pound to good causes.
Sir Stephen Bubb of the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations told the Guardian it was a "disgraceful new development".
He pointed out that the operator would raise only £50m a year – compared with National Lottery operator Camelot, which gave £270m to health causes a few years ago. Given that Camelot announced record ticket sales of £5.8bn last year, it is estimated the amount going to health charities is now closer to £350m.
"This whole thing is deeply unhelpful," said Bubb. "[Richard Desmond] is giving less to charity and also can make a profit from people who think they are giving to charity. They will force charities to duplicate a whole bureaucracy that has grown up after 17 years of the National Lottery. It will just take away business from Camelot's lottery which gives more money to health."
Ben Kernighan, the deputy chief executive at the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, said that he "understood that when a lottery starts up there are upfront costs. Once you reach a certain volume of sales those costs are not there and we would expect providers to maximise the amount going to good causes."
He added that Desmond was "offering just above the legal minimum in terms of contribution. We'd like that to increase over time. Really the best way to give to charities is to do so directly".
Desmond's company argues that the new lottery will grow the market – with the live draw to be shown on ITV1 and Channel 5 each Saturday from 8 October.
Players matching three numbers will win £50 and those with four numbers will get £500.
Martin Hall, chief executive of the new venture said: "The health lottery game is a fresh new alternative which has one single good cause at its heart – health.
"We will be offering people the opportunity to win a life-changing amount of money while at the same time contributing to tackling real health issues in their own communities.
"It is an exciting new launch which will benefit every community in Britain."