National Lotteries Charity Board

Twice a week the jackpot of the National Lottery is announced, meaning that people up and down the country are glued to their television sets in the hope of winning millions of pounds. Whatever people might think of gambling, the National Lottery also offers many different organisations money through its charity board. It means that large sums of money can go to worthy causes and change many different lives for the better. Since the National Lottery began it is reported that tens of billions of pounds has been raised for charitable causes over the years, meaning that its very existence has made a great deal of difference.

Whenever someone buys a ticket, only a certain amount of that goes to the jackpot that people hope to win. The rest of it is split and used for various purposes. Part of this specifically ends up as part of the money going to charity.

Another way in which money goes to charity is in the event of prizes going unclaimed. If a winner is found to exist and they do not come forward within 180 days after the draw, then the prize fund can then be given out via the charitable wing of the National Lottery (also known as the ‘Good Causes Fund’).

There are certain organisations that deal with the handling of the charity funds, as the National Lottery’s operator Camelot is not involved in this. Instead the government assigned this to BIG (Big Lottery Fund) in 2006, who are now allowed to handle all matters related to Lottery funding, as well as non-lottery funding.

There are many people all around the world that rely on charitable donations to survive, with many of the organisations set up to help them working without the aim of making a profit, meaning that they are run by volunteers. These charities must try a number of means to make money, including running charity shops and holding fund raisers. The National Lottery provides another opportunity for these to gain monetary funds.

As well as these ‘good causes’, the National Lottery also gives out grants for arts projects that are deemed worthwhile, allowing talent to flourish in various parts of the country.