About Lottery funding

Every single pound spent on the Lottery helps UK Good Causes. So far over 340,000 projects both large and small have benefited from Lottery funding.

Think about it.

That’s about one project for every square kilometre of the UK.

That means that some of that money has helped local projects in your area. (To learn more about some of these projects take a look at our Lottery Stories)

We are going to show you how each pound is spent after you buy your Lottery ticket or scratch-card.

You’ll be very surprised.

So how exactly does my pound get spent?

You spend your pound on a Lottery ticket or scratch-card in your local retailer. You leave ’thinking lucky”.

And from there?

The company in charge of running the game collects the pound. Camelot were recently re-appointed by the National Lottery Commission (An independent body set up by the Government to monitor the integrity of the National Lottery - www.natlotcomm.gov.uk) to run the Lottery from 2009 to 2019.

Who are the Lottery funders? Doesn’t the DCMS decide how to spend the money?

No. The DCMS doesn’t make decisions on how Lottery money is given out. Lottery grants are made independently of government by organisations that have specialist knowledge about different sectors like sport or the arts.

Ok, so who does make the big decisions?

14 organisations are in charge of giving the Lottery money to Good Causes. They cover arts, heritage, sport, community and voluntary groups as well as supporting projects concerned with health, education and the environment. They will also be funding the 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games in London. Find out more about the Lottery funders. These funders give out the money but it’s the people on the ground at the projects that make great things happen. Find out about some of their Lottery stories

So how would a project I care about apply for funding?

Firstly someone from the project would have to work out what they want to use the money for. They would have to create a practical and viable plan for how the funding would benefit the project and, in turn, wider community.

And then?

Then they would send an application to the relevant Lottery funder, one of the Sport funders for a sport project, Arts Council for an arts project and so on. Experts in the sector would examine their application to determine if it will work. If the application is successful the project is awarded a Lottery grant.

For more information visit www.lotteryfunding.org.uk

That’s great, but how do you make sure the cash is spent honestly?

The money doesn’t just get handed over in one big cheque! The project has to prove the money is being spent properly before the Lottery funder releases a payment to cover costs. This is normally done in instalments and is carefully monitored.

Ok I’m impressed. Now how do I find out more?

Browse our map to see some stories from Lottery funded projects around the UK. To see some great examples of Lottery-funded projects, look at some of our National Lottery Award winners.