Is a lottery syndicate a diversity issue?

[Hopefullyrecovering]

My team at work, consisting of 22 people, has a lottery syndicate. My PA organises it and does all the buying of lottery tickets etc. Every six months or so, we go for drinks after work on the winnings. So far, so harmless, no?

However, one of our new graduates, has ducked out of the syndicate, pleading poverty. I started thinking about this. Because it seemed to me that everyone in our team, student loans notwithstanding, could afford £1 a week.

She is a muslim however, and I belatedly realised that the lottery syndicate thing probably ran counter to her religion. So now I'm thinking we should just ditch the lottery syndicate because it doesn't seem fair to her.

She hasn't actually said that it's a religious issue. I may be completely inventing this. What do you all think?

I think it is not compulsory to join a lottery syndicate, and it is not necessary to investigate someone's reasons for choosing not to.

Yes you are probably right.

But if you want to foster an inclusive environment, you don't want to have a lottery syndicate where a member of your team could potentially feel excluded.

but presumably you do other things where she's included?
Do you ever have tea nights out where you drink?
(No idea if she drinks or not - usng this as an example)

what I suppose I'm trying to say is, fostering an inclusive environment for adults doesn't mean that everyone has to be included in everything. Children would be different. Adults are presumably big enough to think "not my thing"

We often have drinks out after work or meals at lunchtime. I think that's okay because she drinks soft drinks, as does the member of our team who is pregnant, and as do I now, in fact. Anyhow no-one drinks alcohol at lunchtime.

could be just a personal issue to her...i was contracted under an employer who stated any form of gambling would be considered as breach of contract and would end up with dismissal....i was as i was working in a private nursery...

if you were generally excluding her (or anyone) that would be bad, but one thing that most participate in that she doens't I relally don't think is a problem

Good oh

Perhaps I'm just thinking too much. Or being a bit intrusive. I quite like our lottery syndicate and wouldn't want to bin it. It's one of those little nice things that make a difference.

I think it sounds fair enough. TBH, I probably wouldn't feel right joining a lottery syndicate myself, but I'd feel a bit of an idiot to object to other people having one if you have plenty of other times to get together and she's happy to join those.

I think if she doesn't want to do it, for whatever reason, then that's fair enough.

I'm in one at my work, purely because if we won I don't want to be the only person still working there!

Blimey! am in at some of this. Most of the big London casinos would have folded long ago if it weren't for all the rich Arabs who love to gamble! So it's not necessarily a Muslim thing. And indeed many ermm, 'fringe' Christian sects strongly oppose gambling.

But as for a nursery banning its employees from taking part in wholly legitimate and lawful actvitities like buying a lottery ticket or having a flutter on the Grand National in their own private time - would it have the legal right to demand or enforce this? They could find themselves facing a lawsuit on the grounds that this is unreasonable. (Wonder it if wass run by one of the aforementioned sects!)

And, hopefully, I wouldn't ditch the lottery syndicate on those grounds. I can just see the DM headline now!