The National Lottery Act 2013 and the Licence awarded thereunder require the following:
The Act requires that prizes must, on average across the portfolio of National Lottery games, be at least 50% annually.
The Licence requires that the amount allocated to Good Causes is 65% of the difference between sales and prizes.
Good Causes = (Sales – Prizes) x 65% |
At the individual game level, taking Lotto as an example: For every €1 spent on Lotto tickets each week:
52 cent goes to fund prizes.
31.2 cent is retained for good causes = 65% of (€1 - 52c)
6 cent goes to the retailer in commission.
the remaining 10.8c goes to the Operator from which they pay the costs of operating the game.
The Regulator's officials perform checks each week on the Operator's allocation of sales revenue to prizes and good causes, game by game.
Actual Prizes Won and Amounts Earned for Good Causes as a % of Sales
View data in table format
| Year | Prizes Won | Good Causes |
|
2015 |
56.8% |
28% |
|
2016 |
56.3% |
28.4% |
|
2017 |
56.5% |
28.3% |
|
2018 |
56.3% |
28.4% |
|
2019 |
56.2% |
28.4% |
|
2020 |
57.6% |
27.6% |
|
2021 |
55.6% |
28.9% |
|
2022 |
54.8% |
29.4% |
|
2023 |
57.7% |
27.5% |
%s derived from the audited amounts reported in the Operator's accounts.