Voice of Latics in lottery riddle

INVESTIGATION . . . Franny Ward

Missing figures spark probe
FORMER Latics matchday announcer Franny Ward has stepped down from running a community lottery following complaints from members and concerns over missing account details.

Mr Ward, a well-known PA man who worked at Boundary Park for 17 years, held a licence to run a lottery relating to the North-West Sports Development Association.

The scheme saw members pay a weekly fee to be in with a chance of winning a cash prize.

The lottery donated money to several local causes, such as The Samantha Jones Trust — a charity set up in 2004 by Keith and Lorraine Jones, of Delph, after their teenage daughter died of leukaemia.

The lottery also made contributions to projects at the League One club, such as a new speaker system.

The scheme is not in any way associated with Oldham Athletic.

It is classed as a small society lottery which is defined as any system established for charitable purposes to enable participation in sport or cultural activities or any non-commercial purpose other than private gain.

In Oldham, small society lotteries must be registered with the council and comply with the requirements of the Gambling Act 2005.

The council’s licensing department first became concerned about the lottery in April, 2009. A letter was sent to Mr Ward requesting details of proceeds, winners and outgoings.

Complaints about the conduct of the lottery were received by the licensing department, the Gambling Commission and Athletic — who run their own, completely separate lottery scheme.

Following a final written warning, licensing officers recommended that Mr Ward’s licence to run the lottery be revoked and he was hauled before a licensing panel to present his case.

Several deadlines set by licensing officers were missed by Mr Ward who told the panel this was due to his own poor health, a death in the family and him being the main carer for his brother who suffers from leukaemia.

Accounts for 2009/10 show a £5,000 discrepancy between money collected and money paid out.

Mr Ward told the panel that the missing £5,000 is prize money which is currently in a holding account.

Some complaints received were from members who said they had not been paid any money despite winning a prize.

Mr Ward said he had only heard of one such complaint and that had been resolved.

Principal licensing officer John Garforth told the panel that several of the lottery collectors had quit because they thought there was something untoward going on with the running of the scheme. Mr Ward denied the allegation.

Mr Garforth said: “There are too many unanswered questions about the running of the lottery.

“I have grave concerns as to how it is run.

“Mr Ward had plenty of time and opportunity to submit the information required but we are still unclear as to how things are being run.”

Although the recommendation was to revoke the licence, Mr Ward was given the chance to cancel the registration — an opportunity he decided to take.

Mr Ward said: “I have been the victim of a witch hunt.

“I feel so hurt because I have put a lot of effort into the lottery despite the fact that I have been very poorly and it has now come to this.”