SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Since its launch in November 1994, the National Lottery has raised over £33billion for good causes that include sports, arts and heritage, as well as health and education and the environment.
In addition, National Lottery funding contributed £2.175 billion towards the costs of staging the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, including £750m from designated game sales. Funds are raised from the sale of National Lottery games and supplemented by unclaimed prizes and interest on balances of funds held. The funds for the original good causes are held in the National Lottery Distribution Fund (NLDF).
Funds raised for the Olympics good cause were held by the OLDF. The Commission ensures that payments from the Lottery operator to the good causes are accurate and on time.
The total paid to the NLDF in Quarter 1 2015 (April to June) was £451.7m. This was 5.8% below the previous (January to March) quarter’s total but 3.0% above Quarter 1 in 2014-15:
Total funds raised for good causes in Quarter 1, 2015-16 1 The total paid to the NLDF in Quarter 1 (April to June) was £451.7m. This was 5.8% below the previous (January to March) quarter’s total but 3.0% above Quarter 1 in 2014-15:
The amount raised for good causes was below that in Quarter 4 as Quarter 4 benefited from the repayment of £14m of funds used to support the relaunch of Lotto in 2013. The underlying weekly rate in Quarter 1 this year was higher due to greater contributions from EuroMillions, however. Lotto and EuroMillions contributions this year also exceeded those seen in the same quarter last year
