National Lottery has now raised £45bn for good causes
Melanie May | 24 November 2021 | News
£45 billion has now been raised for good causes through National Lottery ticket sales, with the amount generated in the first six months of the 2021/22 financial year up 6.5%.
Operator of the National Lottery Camelot saw its highest-ever first-half National Lottery ticket sales of £3,961.4 million for the first six months of the 2021/22 financial year (1 April to 25 September 2021) – an increase of £107.3 million (+2.7%) on last year. This growth was driven by a strong draw-based games performance – particularly on Lotto, which is now in its third successive year of growth – as well as a steady retail recovery. This performance was further boosted by the National Lottery brand connection to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
While the amount generated for good causes from ticket sales grew, unclaimed prizes – which are handed over to Good Causes – were down -59.1% year-on-year. As a result, a total of £884.5 million was generated for good causes during the first half – up from £863.7 million last year (+2.4%).
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Camelot Chairman, Sir Hugh Robertson, commented:
“I’m delighted to announce another record sales performance for The National Lottery. Crucially, this meant that we were able to deliver growth in returns to good causes, prizes paid to players, and Lottery Duty to the Treasury. Our profit was once again aligned with returns to good causes at the half-year stage and will be around 1% of sales for the full year in accordance with our licence. An incredible £45 billion has now been raised for National Lottery Good Causes – 65% more than the most optimistic Treasury forecasts at the time of launch.”
A key strand of activity over the half year was The National Lottery’s largest-ever brand campaign for Tokyo 2020 – a summer-long programme that reminded players that, every time they play a National Lottery game, they directly support Team GB and ParalympicsGB athletes.
To further make the connection between ‘play and purpose’ Camelot also devised and staged two National Lottery Homecoming events at Wembley Arena. These were broadcast at primetime on BBC One and Channel 4, and gave thousands of National Lottery players a chance to welcome home their Olympic and Paralympic heroes with a stellar line-up of live entertainment. As a result, National Lottery brand positivity once again rose to the high levels seen during the initial National Lottery Community Fund Covid-19 funding commitment made in the first lockdown.
Back in June, Camelot revealed that the National Lottery had raised £1.88bn for good causes during 2020-21.
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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.