CHARITIES and community groups across Oxford could get an extra cash boost under plans for a city lottery.

Tickets would cost just £1 – paid for online – and a weekly prize draw could be worth tens of thousands of pounds.

It is being looked at by Oxford City Council, which says it could raise more than £100,000 a year for good causes.

The authority said the idea had already been successfully tried in other areas, including Aylesbury, Portsmouth, Melton and Stoke-on-Trent.

City council communities boss Christine Simm said: "At the moment this is just an idea, but we think this could be a really good way to raise more money for voluntary and charitable organisations in Oxford.

"In recent years the amount of grant funding available has been squeezed because of county council cuts and so there are more groups putting in bids.

"This would allow us to support more of them."

A report to senior councillors said £100,000 was a 'conservative estimate' for how much a lottery could raise, with officials confident it could bring in even more.

They said Aylesbury Vale District Council, which launched the first ever council lottery in November 2015, had raised £60,000 in its first six months.

It proved so successful that the top prize was recently increased from £20,000 to £25,000, the report said.

When people buy their £1 ticket online, they can choose which nominated charity to donate 50p of its value to, with 8p given to a general grants fund, then 20p to the prize fund, 18p to administrative costs and 4p to pay VAT.

The council would decide which charities were listed as 'good causes' that people can choose from on the lottery website.

In Aylesbury the list includes more than 100 organisations, including mental health charities, hospices, community libraries and local sports clubs.

Mrs Simm said the council was aware some charities in the city were already part of lottery schemes but it 'would not seek to compete with them'.

The council report added: "Running a lottery would also enable smaller organisations to participate in a lottery, the cost of which would otherwise be prohibitive for them.

"It will also enable residents to choose the cause they want to support, and provide a potential funding source for those organisations the council can’t directly afford to support."

The city council already provides about £1.43m in grant funding to voluntary and charitable groups in Oxford.

Of this, a pot of £107,500 was open to bidding this year but the authority received requests for £206,553.

The city council said a key reason for suggestion the lottery was because its grants programme was 'oversubscribed'.

The lottery plan will be considered by the city executive board at a meeting due to take place at 5pm on Thursday, in Oxford Town Hall.

Initial set up costs would be £3,000, the council said.