A CHARITY for elderly people is the first in Oxfordshire to get cash from a controversial lottery.

The WRVS has been given £37,500 by the Health Lottery to help older people in Banbury live as independently as possible.

The weekly lottery was set up by newspaper tycoon Richard Desmond.

The lottery offers participants a top prize of £100,000, but has been criticised for only giving 20p out of every £1 to health-based good causes.

Margaret Lawson, WRVS service delivery manager for Oxfordshire, said: “WRVS is delighted to be one of the charities benefiting from this exciting new initiative.

“This money will make a real difference to how WRVS delivers services in Banbury and will ensure that older people receive the services they need, helping to make Britain a great place to grow old.”

A lottery spokesman defended the amount of money given to charities.

She said: “Other areas of spend include the prize fund, promotion, operating costs etc.

“Our costs are controlled to some extent by the number of winners we have playing our game as none of our prizes are shared, everyone is guaranteed their prize.

“We have to be incredibly efficient simply to ensure this project is sustainable and keeps delivering new money for the charitable sector.”