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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate she has made of the potential effect on the amount of money provided for good causes by the National Lottery of the practice of betting on the result of the Euromillions draw.

The National Lottery was established in order to support good cause projects across the UK in the Arts, Sport, Heritage and Community sectors, and has raised over £36bn since its launch in 1994.

Under Section 95 of the Gambling Act, betting on the outcome of UK National Lottery draws including EuroMillions is prohibited to prevent funds being diverted from good causes and avoid any public confusion between playing the National Lottery and supporting good causes, and commercial gambling. However, where gambling operators in the UK offer a bet on the outcome of EuroMillions draws offered abroad (for example, a bet on the outcome of the Spanish EuroMillions draw), those bets do not have to return any money to good causes and are contrary to the spirit and intention of the prohibition in the Gambling Act.

While current market is small this is a potential growth market for gambling operators. Should the market expand further, there is a risk that EuroMillions sales, and consequently National Lottery good cause returns, could decrease. We are monitoring the situation closely.