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National Lottery raises record amount for good causes in first half of financial year

Melanie May | 24 November 2022 | News

Brightly coloured Lottery balls. By Paulo Diniz on Pixabay

The National Lottery is in its ‘best ever shape’ following record sales and returns to good causes in the first half of the financial year.

Camelot has revealed that it broke the £4bn mark in sales for the first time in its 28-year operation of The National Lottery, outperforming last year’s total by £102.5 million (+2.6%). It also raised its best-ever first-half amount for good causes of £956.5 million – up £72 million (+8.1%) on last year.

Of this total, £37.3 million was retained for marketing expenditure for its core draw-based games Lotto, EuroMillions and Set For Life, and the National Lottery brand, leaving £919.2mn for good causes.

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According to Camelot, this takes the total generated for good causes since The National Lottery launched in 1994 to £47 billion.

The record half year has been driven by digital sales.

Camelot Chairman, Sir Hugh Robertson, commented: 

“I am delighted that these record results show that The National Lottery is returning more to Good Causes than ever before. In this hugely testing economic period, I am proud that my team’s remarkable performance builds on previous years of record ticket sales and returns to Good Causes – and extends our track record of delivering for people across the UK. With just over a year to run until the start of the next licence period, I am confident that The National Lottery has never been in better shape.”

Allwyn is set to take over from Camelot when the current licence expires in February 2024. This month, it announced that it has agreed to buy Camelot’s UK operations. While the value has not been disclosed it is estimated to be around £100mn. Allwyn has also previously said it expects the money allocated to good causes to more than double under its stewardship.

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