Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment his Department has made of the correlation between the profitability of the National Lottery and the amount that organisation returns to good causes.

Annual good cause income has generally increased since the National Lottery began in 1994, although there have been fluctuations year on year during that period. DCMS reports annually on the level of good cause income in the National Lottery Distribution Fund Annual Report and Accounts.

The Government and the Gambling Commission share a statutory duty to maximise returns to good causes, subject to ensuring that the National Lottery is run with all due propriety and that the interests of players are protected. In fulfilling its statutory objectives, following a competitive bidding process, the Gambling Commission issues a licence, which sets out the basis for allocating funds to good causes and profit to the operator.

The Gambling Commission is currently running the competition to award the fourth licence to operate the National Lottery. As with the current licence, the fourth licence will require the operator to maximise good cause returns, and the alignment between good causes and operator profit reinforces this.