Lottery growth sees more cash flow into the arts

Figures just released reveal that 2012/13 was a record-breaking year for The National Lottery, which has delivered the highest ever annual returns to the arts. Lottery ticket sales grew by 6.9% last year alone, to an all-time high of £7bn. This increase saw £2bn shared between the Good Causes, including around £390m for the arts. Ticket buyers have now contributed £30bn to Good Causes since the National Lottery was launched in 1994 – £12bn more than the £1bn a year predicted when it first started. More than 400,000 individual Lottery grants have been awarded across the UK, described by Lottery operator Camelot as “the biggest programme of civic and social regeneration since the 19th Century.”
Camelot’s strategy for “long-term responsible growth of ticket sales” is to encourage many people to play but to each spend relatively little. Using this approach, Lottery sales have grown by over 50% in the last decade, though the UK National Lottery is still only ranked at 49th in the world in terms of per capita spend, despite being the seventh largest Lottery in the world by total sales.