The National Lottery timeline

The opening draw, held live on TV watched by half the nation (22 million of 44 million adults) Everybody tried to guess the numbers. Nobody could predict the impacts that have built across 30 years…

The very first ever grant paid out to a good cause in the UK is recorded as Kingussie School, in the Cairngorms, who bought stage lighting and sound system, benefitting thousands of pupils and guests to the present (the child leaping went on to a career in the West End.)

Gateshead Metropolitan Borough Council used over £0.5 million of National Lottery funding for Sir Antony Gormley's "Angel of the North", admired by millions.

The largest one-off grant (£600 million) built 'the Millennium Dome' (now O2 Arena) in London. Nearly 2,500 'millennium projects' shared almost £2.2 billion.

The National Space Centre, Leicester, blasted off with £31.8 million from The National Lottery. More than £1 billion has funded science education, research, and projects across the UK.

The Millennium Stadium, the biggest stadium in Wales, opens thanks to £46.3 million of National Lottery funding. It’s now known as the Principality Stadium. More than £2.5 billion has built national sports stadiums and venues across the UK, made sports facilties accessible, and backed thousands of clubs, players, and staff.

Mike Leigh’s musical drama, Topsy-Turvy, becomes the first National Lottery funded film to win an Oscar. It picked up two gongs for Best Costume Design and Best Makeup. Feature films funded by The National Lottery have now won 551 awards, including 16 Oscars, 128 BAFTAs and 34 Cannes awards from 2,044 nominations.

The National Lottery funded Eden Project opens to the public! Thanks to National Lottery players, the biomes received more than £56 million to become a new landmark for the South West Today it's said to employ 350 people, plus 150 volunteers, serving more than 20 million visitors so far, and generating more than £2 billion for its regional economy.

The De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill on Sea gets £5.9 million to be turned into an exciting and innovative contemporary arts venue.

Waltham Forest Cricket Academy receives £16 of National Lottery funding to buy children’s cricket equipment, it’s one of our smallest ever grants. Since 1994, more than 2,200 grants for amounts under £100 have been awarded. In 2003 Waltham Forest Cricket Academy got £16 to buy children’s cricket equipment. But there was nothing 'little' about the annual tally to good causes in 2003; more than 29,000 grants, totalling more than £1.7 billion.

The National Lottery's 10th anniversary year saw £2.5 billion go to good causes. £13 million of it to the renaissance of the Cotswold Canals. The yearly average of money supporting good causes all over the UK is £1.5 billion (1994-2024.)

The 200,000th National Lottery grant is awarded to the Cutty Sark Trust for the Cutty Sark Conservation project - more than £20 million to restore the famous clipper, now a popular feature of the London docklands. For the first time, more than 40,000 grants to good causes were paid out within a single year.

The Watts Gallery in Surrey was awarded £5.3 million to celebrate the work of Victorian-era painter and sculptor George Frederic Watts. For the 10th year in a row, more than £1 billion found its way to good causes all over the UK.

The National Lottery awards £25 million towards the ambitious Helix Project which is now home to the iconic Kelpies.

We set sail again with our 300,000th grant, which is awarded to the National Museum Northern Ireland for the Titanic: Built in Belfast Exhibition.

The home of the World War II code breakers Bletchley Park receives £5 million towards its restoration.

Middlesbrough’s iconic Transporter Bridge gets £2.7 million to be transformed into a visitor experience.

The Design Museum moved to 'Kensington's cultural quarter' next to The Natural History Museum, V&A, and Science Museum - all four funded by The National Lottery. Meanwhile, £13 million funded "Creu Hanes - Making History", the story of 200,000 years of human life in Wales, and upgraded the National Museum of Wales.

The FA's National Football Centre, St George's Park facility was funded, home to all 28 England National Football teams.

A total of £2.2 billion of National Lottery funding backed the sporting, and cultural, success of the London Olympic and Paralympic Games Since 1997, significant National Lottery funds have driven a 'world class performance programme' for athletes and coaches. Over £1 billion has helped elite athletes and para-athletes since 1997.

Thanks to The National Lottery players, the 400,000th National Lottery grant - £980,000 went to Voluntary Action Merthyr Tydfil (pictured) for seven different four-year projects, helping thousands of people. Nearly £1.5 billion has backed voluntary organisations and projects led by volunteers (1994-2024.)

The public decides that The Derry Walls are Northern Ireland’s National Treasure. £446,000 of Lottery funding helped engage people with the heritage of the Walled City and ensuring the walls are valued, protected and cherished for years to come. Actor Jimmy Nesbitt popped over to celebrate at the famous landmark.

The magnificent Lincoln Castle reopens following restoration work, helped by £12 million of National Lottery funding.

More than 1,000 Olympic medals have been won since major National Lottery funding of athletes and para-athletes started in 1997. The two teams won 93 Golds at the Rio Olympiad. Rio Olympics gold medalist, Sam Quek (pictured, centre) went on to host The National Lottery's podcast 'Amazing Starts Here'. Meanwhile 26,000 amazing projects, places and people got funding in 2016.

We award our 500,000th grant to Ipswich 4 Families. The project provides support for local vulnerable families.

The National Lottery funded V&A Dundee opens. It’s Scotland’s first design museum.

2019 marks the 25th birthday of The National Lottery. To mark this, we celebrated the extraordinary impact The National Lottery players have had on the UK by contributing millions of pounds every week to good causes. Thank you to The National Lottery players for making the UK a better place.

As a global pandemic struck, organisations affected by the unprecedented impact of the coronavirus outbreak in the UK were given access to a comprehensive package of support of up to £600 million from The National Lottery. As working from home became the new norm, more than £1 billon of funding was awarded in the form of more than 35,000 grants.

COVID delays the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic games by a year, but nothing can stop swimmer Adam Peaty landing Team GB’s 100th gold medal since The National Lottery funding began funding athletes in 1997. Gold medals 101 and 102 followed soon after as divers Tom Daley and Matty Lee and cross country mountain biker Tom Pidcock add to the haul.

England’s women’s football team win the 2022 European Championships with a 2-1 win over Germany at Wembley Stadium. National Lottery funding to women footballers of all ages has totalled £50 million over the last 10 years. And Wembley was rebuilt with £120 million of National Lottery cash too!

National Lottery players also played an important role in helping mark the 75th anniversary of Windrush. Funding made possible by you, our players, helped support more than 100 community groups across the UK to celebrate and remember the Windrush pioneers.