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Camelot

Serving the nation’s dreams

Corporate Responsibility Report 2008

Since the first lottery balls started rolling in 1994, over £21 billion has been raised for the Good Causes and more than 294,000 grants have been awarded – benefiting projects in the arts, heritage, health, education, sport, environment, voluntary and charity sectors, through more than 294,000 grants. This represents the biggest programme of civic and social regeneration since the 19th Century. In 2007/08 our returns to Good Causes increased, with a total of £1,454 million raised in 2007/08.

Over the course of the second seven-year Licence period, for every £1 spent on the lottery, an average 28p goes to Good Causes.

We have a shared interest with the National Lottery Distribution Bodies in raising positive public awareness of how purchasing a National Lottery ticket contributes to Good Causes funding. We see this as a vital contribution to the health, integrity and success of The National Lottery.

There is no doubt that lottery funding has had a hugely positive impact on the lives of millions of people around the UK. Communities the length and breadth of the UK have benefited from this massive programme of investment. Good Causes grants ranging from just a few pounds to many millions of pounds play a critical role in the revival of those communities.

For example:

• Over £10 billion of lottery funding has gone towards projects benefiting children and young people
• The National Lottery has funded the purchase of land over three times the size of the Isle of Wight to protect precious habitat for rare species
• Nearly £25 million has been invested in projects to preserve Wales’ industrial heritage
• £258 million has been invested in village and community centres across the UK
• The National Lottery has invested over £1.8 billion and made over 34,000 grants to projects in Scotland
• The Great Court at the British Museum was supported with over £45 million pounds worth of National Lottery funding
• In the last year alone, over £25 million was given to charitable projects or organisations in Northern Ireland
• Thanks to nearly £500 million of lottery funding, a new wave of science and environmental visitor centres has been created, from the Eden Project in Cornwall to Our Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh and W5 in Belfast
• The Eden Project was built using £59 million of National Lottery funding – the project has generated £500 million for Cornwall’s tourist industry.

Sport was one of the original Good Causes when the lottery was first established in 1994 and it continues to be a major beneficiary, both at grass roots and elite-performance level. So far, over £3 billion has been invested in sport across the UK. Elite sport in particular has been transformed, with 61 Olympic and 226 Paralympic medals having been won by lottery-backed athletes. Now The National Lottery is playing a major role in helping to ensure that the 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games in London are one of the most successful ever, by aiming to raise nearly £2.2 billion. Read more about fundraising for London 2012.

Read more (opens in new window) about the projects which have benefitted from more than 294,000 grants made from lottery funding.

How funding works

The bodies involved in running and regulating The National Lottery are the Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS), the National Lottery Commission (NLC), Camelot Group plc and the Good Causes distributors. Of these, only the distribution bodies actually decide where the money should be spent but it’s important to understand how The National Lottery family works together.

Camelot Group plc is the current operator of The National Lottery. We raise the money that is paid into the National Lottery Distribution Fund (NLDF) and the Olympic Lottery Distribution Fund (OLDF) – but we have no involvement in or influence over how that money is spent.

The DCMS sets the policy direction for The National Lottery. It maintains and manages the NLDF and the OLDF, and issues general guidelines for distributors, but it has no direct influence over which projects receive funding. The money held in the NLDF and OLDF is invested until the distributing bodies draw on it to pay for projects. Any interest accrued by the Funds are paid over to the Good Causes.

The NLC awards the Licence to operate the lottery and also regulates the operator – currently Camelot – to make sure The National Lottery is run in a fit and proper manner. It is not involved in, and has no influence over, the way money is spent on Good Causes.

Deciding which projects will benefit from lottery funding is the responsibility of the independent distribution bodies. They are:
(Attention: All the links open in new window)

• Arts Council England
• Arts Council of Northern Ireland
• Arts Council of Wales
• Scottish Arts Council
• Big Lottery Fund (including Awards for All)
• Heritage Lottery Fund
• Olympic Lottery Distributor (this fund is not open for general applications)
• UK Film Council
• Scottish Screen
• UK Sport
• Sport England
• sportsscotland
• Sports Council for Northern Ireland
• Sports Council for Wales

Camelot’s role is to raise as much money as we can for Good Causes in a socially responsible way. We do this by developing our games portfolio and introducing new, innovative ways to play. Although we play no direct role in the allocation of Good Causes funding, we believe The National Lottery as a whole can benefit from an increased positive public awareness of how lottery funding is spent. Read more about how we help to publicise lottery projects across the UK.

There are a number of policy reforms which we have been discussing with the Government and the National Lottery Commission which would greatly aid us in this aspect of our work. We were disappointed that the Chancellor did not introduce a Gross Profits Tax (GPT) regime for the lottery in the last budget. This would have given us the ability to vary prize levels in order to compete more effectively with other forms of gaming – which already operate under GPT. Our experience shows that increasing prizes increases sales, producing greater returns for the Good Causes. However, we welcome the Government’s commitment to take a decision on GPT in the autumn of 2008.

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The figures include sales and unclaimed prizes and income to the NLDF and OLDF through investment returns. The methodology was changed in 2005/06 and so we have re-calculated previous year's figures.

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