Lottery raises £600m for London 2012
The National Lottery has achieved more than 80 per cent of its target for funding the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The National Lottery Commission has published the latest quarterly report on funds raised by the Lottery for good causes.
Figures reveal that by the end of March this year, more than £600 million had been raised for the Olympic Lottery Distribution Fund (OLDF) since 2005. A target of £750 million is set to come from the OLDF.
Money raised for the OLDF between 1 January and 31 March was almost 30 per cent higher than in the previous three months and more than 50 per cent higher than the same period in the previous year. This resulted from a significant increase in OLDF scratchcard sales in the early part of the year.
Since its launch in November 1994, the National Lottery has raised more than £25 billion for good causes including sports, arts and heritage. Funds are mostly raised from the sale of National Lottery games. The proportion of National Lottery income that goes to good causes is transferred from the operator to the National Lottery Distribution Fund (NLDF) or the OLDF.