Where does the money go? According to the Gambling Commission, National Lottery good causes received £1,688.7m in 2025-26, about 21p of every pound spent on tickets. This 2026 explainer follows that money from the till to the National Lottery Distribution Fund and on to the twelve bodies that hand out grants for arts, sport, heritage and communities.
How much of a lottery ticket goes to charity?
The Gambling Commission’s industry statistics split National Lottery sales into five parts. In 2025-26 sales totalled £7,935.0m, a rise of 0.9% on the year before.
Prizes took the biggest slice, followed by good causes and Lottery Duty. On our calculation, here is how each £1 was shared out in 2025-26.
So for a £2 ticket, roughly 43p goes to good causes and 24p to the Treasury. Lottery Duty is charged at 12% of the ticket price, and our guide to UK gambling tax covers the other duties.
The NLDF explained
The National Lottery Distribution Fund (NLDF) was set up in 1994 to receive and hold good cause money. It is controlled by the Secretary of State at DCMS and allocates funds at arm’s length through twelve lottery distributing bodies.
Under the Fourth Licence, run by Allwyn since 1 February 2024 and due to expire on 31 January 2034, the operator pays the NLDF an annual fixed contribution plus a percentage of its surplus. Unclaimed prizes, which expire after 180 days, also go into the fund.
In 2024-25 the NLDF received £1.8bn, up from £1.7bn the year before, and distributing bodies drew down £1.8bn. Investment returns on the balance have added £2.5bn since launch, with an average return of 4.95% in 2024-25.
The accounts say 2024-25 income was helped by EuroMillions rollovers, growing Instant Win Games sales and one-off payments from the closure of the Third Licence. Digital sales also help good causes because they carry no retailer commission.
For sales trends, prize payouts and player numbers, see our National Lottery statistics.
The lottery distributing bodies and their shares
The split between causes is fixed in law by the National Lottery etc. Act 1993 and a 2010 order. Arts, sport and national heritage each receive 20%, and charitable, health, education and environment causes receive 40%.
| Distributing body | Share of the NLDF | Income, 2024-25 |
|---|---|---|
| National Lottery Community Fund | 40.000% | £725.6m |
| National Lottery Heritage Fund | 20.000% | £362.8m |
| Arts Council England | 13.956% | £253.2m |
| Sport England | 12.400% | £224.9m |
| UK Sport | 4.560% | £82.7m |
| British Film Institute | 2.704% | £49.1m |
| Arts and sport bodies in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland | 6.380% | £115.8m |
The National Lottery Community Fund is the largest single distributor. Total income shared between the bodies was £1,814.1m in 2024-25.
Only the National Lottery feeds the NLDF. European online casinos and other operators pay nothing into this fund.
Thirty years of National Lottery good causes
DCMS says the National Lottery had raised £49.0bn for good causes by the end of 2024-25, benefiting over 700,000 projects. Most grants are under £10,000.
Allwyn uses a later and wider count. In March 2026 it said more than £53bn had been raised since 1994, funding over 680,000 projects.
The Commission’s figures show good cause returns have not kept pace with sales. In 2012-13 they took 25.3% of sales, against 21.3% in 2025-26 on our calculation, partly because prize payouts and operator costs changed.
Over the past seven financial years the share has stayed close to 21%. The low point was 2023-24, the year of the handover from Camelot to Allwyn.
| Financial year | Sales (£m) | Good causes (£m) | Share of sales |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019-20 | 7,904.2 | 1,659.1 | 21.0% |
| 2020-21 | 8,386.4 | 1,724.9 | 20.6% |
| 2021-22 | 8,095.5 | 1,715.4 | 21.2% |
| 2022-23 | 8,184.2 | 1,709.0 | 20.9% |
| 2023-24 | 7,804.5 | 1,571.8 | 20.1% |
| 2024-25 | 7,864.9 | 1,642.9 | 20.9% |
| 2025-26 | 7,935.0 | 1,688.7 | 21.3% |
The 2025-26 figure is provisional. Good cause returns rose 2.8% on the year, while sales grew 0.9%.
Key point: Allwyn reported more than £1.7bn for good causes in calendar year 2025, or £33m a week, up from £30m a week when it took over. It aims to reach £60m a week by 2034.
Allwyn’s first years and the 2026 outlook
Allwyn said sales reached £8.1bn in 2025, its first full year, up 3.5% on a like-for-like basis. Digital sales hit £4.1bn, 51% of the total and the first time online has passed half.
The Commission’s financial year data show the same shift: remote sales were £4,040.0m of the £7,935.0m total in 2025-26. Allwyn also reported £967m of Lottery Duty in 2025 and investment of more than £450m in new systems.
Lottery play is spread fairly evenly around the country, as our look at gambling by region England shows. Lottery sales are also counted separately from the wider market in our UK gambling industry statistics.
Unspent balances and criticism
Money does not leave the fund the moment it arrives. At 31 March 2025 the NLDF held £1.9bn for distributors, up from £1.8bn a year earlier.
Against that, distributors had grant liabilities of £2.5bn and further contingent liabilities of £0.7bn. DCMS says it works with them to keep balances at a level that covers commitments already made.
The balances are uneven. The National Lottery Heritage Fund held £689.0m at the end of March 2025 and the National Lottery Community Fund £552.0m, while Sport England held £226.5m against grant liabilities of £416.2m.
Distributors commit money several years ahead, so a large balance does not always mean idle cash. The Fund also paid £28.8m in 2024-25 towards Gambling Commission costs, double the £14.4m of the year before.
The accounts also flag risks to future returns. The Commission faced legal claims from an unsuccessful bidder for the Fourth Licence, and Allwyn can recover certain implementation costs from good cause money over the licence term.
Lottery regulation only covers the GB market. Games offered by non-UK casino sites sit outside the Commission’s licensing and make no contribution to good causes.
The same applies to crypto casinos, which are not licensed in Great Britain. Their stakes never reach the NLDF or the distributing bodies.
FAQ: National Lottery good causes funding
Quick answers from DCMS, Gambling Commission and Allwyn figures.
How much of a £2 lottery ticket goes to good causes?
About 43p on 2025-26 figures, or 21p per £1. A further 24p goes to the Treasury as Lottery Duty.
What is the NLDF?
The National Lottery Distribution Fund, run by DCMS, holds good cause money and passes it to twelve distributing bodies.
Who decides how lottery money is split?
Parliament. The law gives 20% each to arts, sport and heritage and 40% to charitable, health, education and environment causes.
How much has the National Lottery raised since 1994?
£49.0bn to March 2025 according to DCMS, or more than £53bn by Allwyn’s later count.
Who runs the National Lottery?
Allwyn, under the Fourth Licence from the Gambling Commission, which started on 1 February 2024.
Sales splits use Gambling Commission financial year data (April to March, 2025-26 provisional); pence per pound are our calculations. NLDF figures cover 2024-25, the latest audited year. Allwyn figures cover calendar year 2025.
- Gambling Commission, Industry statistics, April 2025 to March 2026 (xlsx), sheet 11.
- DCMS, National Lottery Distribution Fund annual report and accounts 2024-25.
- Allwyn UK, National Lottery results for 2025, March 2026.
- HMRC, Gambling Duty rates.
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