National Lottery raised £1.88bn for good causes in pandemic year
Melanie May | 15 June 2021 | News
The National Lottery raised £1.88 billion for good causes in 2020-21, according to Camelot figures.
This equates to £36 million a week, and is an increase of around £30m on the previous year’s figure.
Camelot saw record National Lottery sales during the 2020/21 financial year, rising by £468.8 million to reach over £8bn for the first time. This also meant the best-ever returns to good causes from sales revenue alone, with the total to good causes also including unclaimed prizes.
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Sales of all six of Camelot’s draw-based games rose last financial year to over £4,690 million, an increase of more than £153 million. This was primarily driven by Lotto, with a new feature introduced in November that sees around a million players win an additional cash prize of £5 for matching two main numbers in a ‘Must Be Won’ Rolldown draw. Sales of Instants also grew – to over £3,683 million.
Highest ever digital sales
The pandemic saw the National Lottery record its highest ever digital sales at £3,509.5 million – an increase of 42.8%. This included a £876.4 million increase in mobile sales, with the majority of these sales taking place via The National Lottery’s apps.
As a result. lottery duty to government also exceeded £1 billion for the first time, which Camelot says contributed to a record £3.1 billion delivered to society through good causes returns, lottery duty, and retailer commission.
Covid support
The National Lottery has also provided financial support to help good causes affected by the pandemic. By March of this year, National Lottery funding to support the UK-wide response to the coronavirus pandemic had reached £1.2 billion. This was directed towards initiatives and programmes designed to tackle loneliness and isolation, provide support for the elderly and vulnerable young people, and promote physical and mental health in the community.
Commenting on last year’s results, Camelot Chairman, Sir Hugh Robertson said:
“This is the fourth consecutive year of rising sales since our strategic review in 2017. The National Lottery has delivered for the UK again this year, with the highest-ever returns for good causes from sales alone. A remarkable £1.2 billion has been distributed to help the country respond to the impact of coronavirus. Without this money, many organisations would have ceased to function.
“This has been achieved by making the right strategic calls as a business alongside the support of players and the wider National Lottery family. I would like to thank government, the National Lottery Distributors, our retail partners and, most importantly, National Lottery players – without whom this remarkable success story would not have been possible.”
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.