National Lottery ticket sales support Good Causes in the UK
INDEPENDENT retailers across the UK have helped to raise more than £10billion for Good Causes by selling National Lottery tickets.
New data from National Lottery operator Allwyn has revealed that retailers across the UK have managed to surpass this milestone figure since The National Lottery started in 1994.
On average, 23p of every £1 spent on The National Lottery goes directly to Good Causes which has now helped to support more than 680,000 projects across arts, community, heritage and sports for over 30 years now.
Today over 22,000 independent retailers across the UK sell National Lottery tickets and scratchcards and, of those stores, 1,623 shops have raised more than £500,000, 469 have raised more than £1million and 28 have broken through the £2million marks. Even more remarkably, there are two stores that have raised more than £3million for Good Causes.
To mark the occasion, three retailers in Kent, Wales and Yorkshire have been recognised in Allwyn’s ‘Local Retail Champions’ initiative and have each received a visit from a famous face that has benefitted from National Lottery funding.
Welsh actress Joanna Page visited Kulijt Athwal, owner of Premier Grand Avenue Stores in Cardiff, who both visited the Ministry of Life Education, a National Lottery-funded education provider. Athwal has raised more than £1million for Good Causes through his store.
Meanwhile, Monty Dipoti was visited by Olympic champion boxer Nicola Adams at his Todmorden News store in West Yorkshire in recognition for the massive £2.3million raised. They both visited the Northern Powerhouse Boxing Academy which received £25,000 from The National Lottery.
And finally, Steve Weight, owner of Borough Green Stores in Kent, was surprised when local hero Matt Weston, double Oympic gold medal skeleton racer, visited. Weston spoke of how he has benefitted from the UK Sport’s Elite Athletes programme, funded by The National Lottery, which Weight has massively supported through his £1.4million in Good Causes fundraising.
Alastair Ruxton, chief impact officer at Allwyn UK, said: “Most people in the UK live within half a mile of a Lottery funded Good Cause project, in no small part due to the extraordinary efforts of independent retailers who sell National Lottery tickets.
“The remarkable £10 billion local retailers have raised for Good Causes around the country has helped train Olympic and Paralympic athletes, fund award-winning British films and our world-renowned brilliant museums and galleries, as well as supporting thousands of vital community, education and heritage projects.”
