The UK National Lottery raised £1.84bn for good causes in the year ended 31 March 2022, narrowly setting a new record.
The total raised, as reported by the Gambling Commission, was slightly more than the £1.83bn that was raised in 2020-21.
For the fourth quarter of the financial year, £491.3m was raised for good causes, down 3.4% from the previous quarter and 10.9% from the same quarter of the previous year.
The Gambling Commission said the decline in funds raised during the quarter could primarily be put down to lower sales. National Lottery sales declined by 0.8% quarter-on-quarter to £2.15bn. The Commission said that this was due to a lower number of EuroMillions rollovers, leading to sales from that brand dropping by 22.8% to £425m.
In addition, total unclaimed prizes returned to good causes declined by about £10m quarter-on-quarter.
The news comes soon after the Gambling Commission announced that a business other than Camelot would operate the National Lottery for the first time.
The regulator selected Allwyn – formerly the Sazka Group – to win the fourth National Lottery licence tender, meaning that business is set to take over the lottery from February 2024.
However, Camelot has issued a legal challenge against this decision.
“We are launching a legal challenge in our capacity as an applicant for the fourth licence because we firmly believe that the Gambling Commission has got this decision badly wrong,” Camelot chief executive Nigel Railton said at the time.
