Most lotteries offer participants the chance to win cash prizes. Sometimes, vacations and luxury items are up for grabs. Now, the UK Gambling Commission has granted a gambling license to To Hatch, a charity that plans on raffling off fertility treatments.
The prize is actually £25 000 worth of fertility treatments, to help parents conceive. Single individuals who win the prize will be provided with donor sperm or eggs, or a surrogate mother. Winners of the grand prize will also be put up in a luxury hotel and will be driven to their treatment by a chaffeur. Should the IVF treatment fail, winners are often several different options, including donor eggs and a surrogate birth.
While the lottery has the best interests of families at heart, the initiative has been met with a great deal of criticism. Critics believe that the lottery breaks European Union laws on the commercialization of human tissue, and that the operation should be shut down. They believe that an investigation of the lottery should be launched before the first lottery draw takes place.
Tickets cost just £20 and there will be monthly draws to determine who will win the controversial prize. Couples can take part, as well as single and elderly individuals. For all those interested in taking part, the lottery will begin on July 30.
