Society lotteries UK sales reached a record £1,171.2m in 2025-26, according to provisional Gambling Commission statistics, and £498.5m of that went to good causes. These are the charity, hospice and community lotteries that run alongside The National Lottery. This guide sets out where every pound goes, how much is sold online, the role of external lottery managers and the legal limits that apply in 2026.
How big are society lotteries UK-wide in 2026?
Ticket sales for society lotteries rose 5.7% in 2025-26, from £1,108.5m in 2024-25 to £1,171.2m. Every quarter of the year set a new high, ending with £297.8m in January to March 2026.
| Financial year | Sales | Good causes | Online sales |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008-09 | £178.7m | £94.9m | £9.5m |
| 2018-19 | £734.9m | £331.8m | £446.8m |
| 2023-24 | £1,058.1m | £462.6m | £749.9m |
| 2024-25 | £1,108.5m | £484.8m | £793.5m |
| 2025-26 (P) | £1,171.2m | £498.5m | £850.7m |
Measured as gross gambling yield, meaning sales minus prizes, lotteries took £835.6m in 2025-26. That is 4.8% of the £17,455.7m total in our UK gambling industry statistics report (our calculation).
Quarterly sales in 2025-26
The quarterly figures show steady rather than seasonal growth. Sales rose in each quarter of 2025-26, from £288.1m in April to June 2025 to £297.8m in January to March 2026.
| Quarter | Sales | Online sales | Good causes | ELM share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr-Jun 2025 | £288.1m | £210.6m | £122.3m | 88.1% |
| Jul-Sep 2025 | £289.4m | £209.5m | £122.5m | 86.1% |
| Oct-Dec 2025 | £295.9m | £213.1m | £126.3m | 87.9% |
| Jan-Mar 2026 | £297.8m | £217.4m | £127.5m | 88.2% |
Good-cause money followed the same path, reaching £127.5m in the final quarter. That is about £9.8m a week on average over January to March 2026 (our calculation, using 13 weeks).
Online sales also kept rising through the year and reached £217.4m in the final quarter, or 73.0% of sales (our calculation). Non-remote sales stayed between £77.5m and £82.8m in every quarter of 2025-26, so almost all of the growth came from online tickets.
Where the money goes: good causes, prizes and expenses
The Commission splits every pound of sales three ways. In 2025-26 good causes received £498.5m, expenses took £337.1m and prizes £335.5m.
| Use of sales, 2025-26 (P) | £m | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Good causes | £498.5m | 42.6% |
| Expenses | £337.1m | 28.8% |
| Prizes | £335.5m | 28.7% |
Key point: roughly 43p of every £1 spent on charity lotteries in 2025-26 reached lottery good causes, more than double the legal minimum of 20p.
The good-cause share is drifting down, though. Expenses grew 9.7% in 2025-26 while good-cause money grew 2.8%, so the share fell from 43.7% in 2024-25 (our calculation). In 2008-09 it was 53.1%.
Online sales and external lottery managers
Charity lotteries have moved online. Remote sales were £850.7m in 2025-26, or 72.6% of the total, against just 5.3% in 2008-09 (our calculation), while non-remote sales of £320.5m were only 1.7% higher than a year earlier.
Most of this activity is run by external lottery managers (ELMs), licensed businesses that manage lotteries on behalf of societies. The Commission accepts that an ELM is a commercial business that usually exists to make a profit, but the society remains responsible for keeping its lottery within the Gambling Act 2005.
ELMs raised £1,025.7m, or 87.6% of all sales, in 2025-26, compared with 20.4% in 2008-09. Their share has stayed above 80% every year since 2018-19.
At 31 March 2026 the Commission’s register counted 597 lottery licence activities and 42 held by external lottery managers. Remote lottery tickets are sold under GB licences, so stakes placed at crypto casinos are not part of any of these totals.
Society lotteries vs The National Lottery
The National Lottery is a separate licence, run by Allwyn since 1 February 2024. Its sales were £7,935.0m in 2025-26, almost seven times the society lottery total, and it generated £1,688.7m for good causes.
That works out at about 21p per £1 for The National Lottery against about 43p for society lotteries UK-wide (our calculation). The full breakdown is in our National Lottery statistics report.
In cash terms The National Lottery still raises much more. Society lotteries contributed £498.5m, about 29.5% of the amount covered in our analysis of National Lottery good causes.
Rules on sales, prizes and good causes
The Gambling Commission sets firm limits. At least 20% of the proceeds of each lottery must go to the society’s purposes, and up to 80% can be split between prizes and expenses.
- A single large society lottery can sell up to £5m of tickets.
- Total sales by one society are capped at £50m in a calendar year.
- The top prize is £25,000 or 10% of proceeds, whichever is greater, up to £500,000.
- Societies must publish each year the percentage of proceeds returned to their good cause.
Since the statutory levy began, society lotteries pay 0.1% of proceeds kept after good causes and prizes, and ELMs pay 0.1% of their fees. Online casino and betting operators pay 1.1% of GGY, on top of taxes such as Remote Gaming Duty.
Growth since 2008-09
Sales have grown about 6.6 times since 2008-09 and 59.4% since 2018-19 (our calculation). Growth slowed after the pandemic but picked up again in 2023-24.
All these figures cover lotteries licensed by the Commission in Great Britain. Games on non-UK casino sites are outside the data.
Gambling run by European online casinos is excluded in the same way, as are small lotteries that do not need a Commission licence.
FAQ: society lotteries
Quick answers on society lotteries UK data from official sources.
How much do society lotteries raise for good causes?
£498.5m in 2025-26 (provisional), from sales of £1,171.2m, according to the Gambling Commission.
What is the minimum a charity lottery must give to good causes?
20% of the proceeds of each lottery. The 2025-26 average was 42.6%.
What is an external lottery manager?
A business licensed by the Commission to run lotteries for societies. ELMs raised 87.6% of society lottery sales in 2025-26.
Is a society lottery the same as The National Lottery?
No. The National Lottery runs under its own licence, operated by Allwyn, and is reported separately.
Sales and distribution figures are Gambling Commission data for licensed society and local authority lotteries in Great Britain; 2025-26 is provisional. Individual lotteries are not named because the Commission publishes only sector totals. Shares and per-pound figures are our calculations.
- Gambling Commission, Industry statistics, April 2025 to March 2026 (xlsx), sheets 1, 2, 9 and 11.
- Gambling Commission, Society and local authority lotteries: proceeds and monetary limits.
- Gambling Commission, Raising money for good causes.
- GOV.UK, Statutory gambling levy.
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