Record year of fundraising for charity lotteries
Melanie May | 30 November 2018 | News
It has been a record year of fundraising by charity lotteries, according to the Gambling Commission’s annual statistics.
The figures show that the sector raised £296 million in the year to March 2018, up from £256 million last year.
Fundraising by the National Lottery is also growing again. The statistics show an increase in the percentage to good causes from society lotteries – at 43.8% – up from 43.5% last year – and in the percentage to good causes from the National Lottery, at 21.7% – up from 21.5% last year.
Welcoming the record year of fundraising, Lotteries Council Chair, Tony Vick, praised players of charity lotteries for helping raise a record amount and said that the growth in good causes funding across both charity lotteries and the National Lottery was a “win-win” for the country.
Vick said:
“This has been a great year of charity fundraising by charity lotteries, with charities across the country benefitting as a result. Our thanks go to charity lottery players across Britain who have helped the sector make a record amount for good causes.
“The charity lottery sector has a huge amount of fundraising talent within it – both staff and volunteers – and charities such as hospices, air ambulances, community groups and sports teams benefit as a result. Given the tough charity fundraising climate this growth in income is very welcome.
“We also welcome that both charity lottery funding and National Lottery funding is on a growth trajectory, which is a win-win for the country and makes clear that both types of lottery can grow together.”
Malcolm Fleming, Chair of The Lotteries Council Public Affairs Committee, added:
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“It is clear from these statistics that the drop in National Lottery funding in 2016-17 – caused by the changes to the Lotto draw – is being reversed. This is something that The Lotteries Council warmly welcomes.
“That National Lottery good cause funding is back on a growth trajectory again, alongside a growth in charity lottery good cause funding, backs up recent Gambling Commission modelling which showed that charity lottery sales don’t impact on the National Lottery.
“The Lotteries Council is calling on the UK Government to bring forward changes in the law to help charity lotteries to grow their funding to good causes, and these latest statistics further strengthen the case for those changes.”
About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.