The Gambling Commission’s Report on Funds Raised for Good Causes

The National Lottery launched in 1994, and since then, it has raised more than £47 billion for good causes, such as sports, arts, heritage, health, education, and the environment. The Gambling Commission’s responsibility is to check if payments from the Lottery operator to good causes are accurate and timely.

The Gambling Commission shares its new report on such funds representing Quarter 3 2022 to 2023. According to the report, the total raised during this period was £434.1 million, which was 13.5% lower than Quarter 2 this year, and 14.6% lower than Quarter 3 last year. Besides, during the last five quarters, £2.4 billion was raised for good causes.

The main factors for the decrease in total returns to good causes during the current period are the following:

• the sales mix shifted towards instant products, with scratch cards and Interactive Instant Win Games sales up and EuroMillions sales down;
• unclaimed prizes reduced, and marketing spending increased.

These points explain why sales remained high, but returns were lower than in the previous Quarter.