About Lottery funding
The National Lottery is controlled by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, regulated by the Gambling Commission, and run by the private sector.
At present, of the money received in Lottery ticket sales 12% goes in tax to the Government, 50% to prizes, 5% to the retailer as commission for selling the ticket; 4.5% to the operator, 0.5% profit, and the remaining 28% goes donations to good causes across the UK.
The good causes cover the areas of:
- Health, Education, Environment and Charitable Causes
- Sport
- Arts
- Heritage
The National Lottery money is shared by the following distributing organisations:
- Arts Council England, Arts Council of Wales, Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Creative Scotland
- National Lottery Community Fund
- National Lottery Heritage Fund
- Sport England, Sport Wales, Sport Scotland, Sport Northern Ireland
- UK Sport
- British Film Institute
The Postcode Lottery, operated by parent company Novamedia, one of the largest private charity donors in the world, award a minimum of 32% of each Postcode Lottery ticket to good causes. The funding goes to charities and projects in the UK and around the world. The money from the People's Postcode Lottery players support a wide range of charities covering fields like children's welfare, animal protection, the environment, help for the elderly, arts and culture, and more.
The Health Lottery distribute around 25% of the money it raises to initiatives concerned with helping people lead healthier, and longer lives. Local people choose the causes that benefit from the money alongside Health Lottery's partner charity, the People's Health Trust.