British society lottery The Health Lottery will increase the percentage of its funding that goes towards good causes by a quarter to 25.5%.The lottery said it made the decision to raise its contribution level from 20.34% to 25.5% due to the “financial damage caused to the charity sector due to the Covid-19 crisis”.
“The Covid-19 crisis has left many charities and projects in a vulnerable position,” Martin Ellice, joint group managing director of The Health Lottery, said. “That’s the reason we have taken the decision to increase the level of contribution by over 25%, allowing us to support the health inequality projects that are so important to local communities.
“Every single one of the charities and projects funded through The Health Lottery carries out wonderful work and it’s of paramount importance that we keep them alive.”
The Health Lottery currently operates 12 regional and country lotteries across Great Britain. Each month, a portion of the revenue collected from these lotteries is allocated to charities dedicated to tackling health inequalities in the region. Since its launch in 2011, The Health Lottery has raised more than £115m for more than 3,000 charities or projects.
“There has never been a more important time in living memory than now to ensure that we support the phenomenal work carried out by the thousands of charities and projects across the length and breadth of Great Britain – many of whom are in desperate need of funding,” Ellice said
In December 2019, Health Lottery operator Northern & Shell told iGB that it was interested in bidding for the rights to operate the UK’s National Lottery when the tender process opens this year. Northern & Shell said that after 25 years under Camelot’s control, it was “time for a change” to the lottery’s management when the current contract expires.
Last month, a Camelot spokesperson said that the operator has received notice in writing from the GB Gambling Commission to extend the Third Licence to run the National Lottery by six months until the end of July 2023. Meanwhile the tender process for the next licence has been delayed by three months from its previous launch date in “the first half of 2020”, suggesting a new launch date at some point this quarter.
The initial launch date for the tender process had been in March 2020, and pushing back the launch led to criticism from potential bidders, who said that this reduced the chances of a serious challenge to Camelot’s tenure.
