North-east charity launches its own lottery with top prize of £25,000

The weekly draw will raise crucial funds for North East Sensory Services (NESS), which has a core mission of helping those with sensory loss live as independently as possible.

The charity supports thousands of blind and deaf people, and those with visual and hearing impairments in Angus, Aberdeen, Dundee and Moray.

The lottery costs only £1 to enter and is operated by Unity, which administers similar schemes for many other long-established charities including the SSPCA, Sue Ryder and Maggie’s.

At least half of the proceeds from every ticket sold will go directly to NESS to put towards its life-changing work, with the rest contributing to administration fees and the prize pot.

People can register to take part in the lottery online in a matter of minutes, with draws held every Friday.

Those who choose to play will be helping NESS support more than 6,250 people of all ages living with serious sensory loss across the north-east.

Services the charity provides include:

● Supporting people with information and advice as they receive a diagnosis

● Enabling children and young people to grow in confidence, independence, social skills and ambition by participating in activities

● Connecting people through groups and classes, reducing isolation and building skills and friendships

● Providing tailored support, enabling people to find employment, further education or training opportunities, or to remain in employment following a diagnosis

● Increasing independence and reducing isolation by training and supporting people to use accessible technology and digital devices.

Every lottery ticket has an equal chance of winning, and players can choose how many entries they would like each week, up to a maximum of 20.

After registering, players are sent randomly generated six-digit lottery numbers in the post. To win, the digits in their number must match the drawn number, and be in the same position.

A six-digit match wins the £25,000 jackpot, while a five-digit match wins £1,000. Matching four digits wins £25, while a three-digit match wins five free entries into the next draw.

Lorraine Middleton, community fundraiser and events coordinator for NESS, said: “We are absolutely delighted to be launching our own lottery, which gives people a new way of donating to our charity at the same time as being in with a chance of winning big.

“Every ticket sold will provide us with more funding to put towards helping people with sensory loss, and will ensure that we can continue this vital work for years to come.

“We really want to make the lottery a success, so we are appealing to our supporters to help spread the word among their family and friends. We wish good luck to them all.

“This and other forms of fundraising is vital for us to provide our life-changing services, and we would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who supports us in whatever way they can.”