A lottery has been launched to raise funds for the Inverness Highland Games.
Thrifty50 will be run by the Inverness Highland Games committee, which has been granted a three year licence to run the lottery at each of the major events staged by the council.
One ticket holder from each draw will go home with 50% of the money generated from every £1 ticket.
Under the licence, the promoters can only sell £20,000 worth of tickets for each draw, so if all were sold, the lucky winner would take away £10,000.
Currently events staged in Inverness are funded by the grant from the Inverness Common Good Fund and the revenue generated at the Inverness Highland Games, so the remaining 50% of the lottery would ultimately help fund all the Highland capital’s free events.
A random number generator will choose the winning numbers.
The first Thrifty50 draw will be on Saturday July 20 at 5pm, just before Tossing the Caber at the Inverness Highland Games.
The second one will take place at the next event, Proud Ness on Sunday July 21 at 4.30pm.
Other city events where the lottery will be run include Hallowe’en, Bonfire Night, Winter Wonderland and Hogmanay.
Lottery promoter and Inverness Highland Games committee chairman Angus Dick said: “With thousands of spectators attending each of the events staged by the council, we believe that the prizes and funds generated by Thrifty50 will ensure that everybody will be a winner.
“We anticipate that each of the lotteries that we will be running will add a lot of excitement and we are really looking forward to seeing the prize fund appearing on the big screens at Hogmanay and rising over the course of the evening.
“We think that offering everybody a way to show their support for the enjoyment provided by the council over the course of the year will prove popular, and we hope that folk will agree with us.”
Councillor Graham Ross, chairman of the Inverness Events and Festivals Working Group said: “The launch of the Thrifty50 Lottery by the Inverness Highland Games Committee is very innovative and their new initiative to support our city’s events programme is greatly appreciated.”
