Dianne Thompson (centre), chief executive of Camelot, hands a cheque for £750m to former Olympian Sally Gunnell and former Paralympian Danny Crates
Results for 2011/12 show that it gave £1.8bn, £160m more than in 2011/12, and it hit its target of £750m for the Olympics
The National Lottery raised a record £1.8bn for good causes in 2011/2, according to its operator, Camelot.
The lottery generated £160m more for charities, community projects, health, education, sport, arts and heritage schemes last year than in 2010/11, according to Camelot’s results for 2011/12, released today. The increase is 9.6 per cent.
Sales of National Lottery products, such as tickets and scratchcards, hit an all-time high of £6.5bn in 2011/12, an increase of 12.1 per cent on the previous year. The figures were buoyed by two exceptionally large EuroMillions Rollover jackpots of more than £161m and £101m in July and October.
Lottery sales have grown by 35 per cent since 2002.
Camelot raised its target of £750m for the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics from designated lottery games, which is part of a National Lottery contribution of £2.2bn to the games.
Andy Duncan, managing director of Camelot UK Lotteries Ltd, said: "Our business is all about raising as much money as possible for the good causes and creating millions of winners – and this year’s record-breaking figures show we’ve done exactly that.
"The National Lottery is truly life-changing – for the hundreds of thousands of beneficiaries of lottery funding and for all of the big winners we create each and every week."
