Good Causes Funding Upped by Health Lottery

The Health Lottery, a popular charity-based society lottery in Britain, has announced it will increase its funding for good causes from 20.34% to 25.5%.

Organisers said that they had made the decision to raise the amounts due to the damaging effect on charities caused over the last few months by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Increase Needed to Help Local Communities

The Health Lottery’s Martin Ellice, the joint group managing director, said when announcing the increase that the ongoing COVID-19 crisis has left a number of charitable entities in a vulnerable financial position.

Because of this, Ellice says The Health Lottery has taken the decision to increase contributions to good causes by more than 25%, a figure that will allow the lottery to support health and inequality projects which they believe are crucial to many local communities.

Ellice added that every one of the projects and charities supported through funding from The Health Lottery are known to carry out valuable work in a range of areas, making it of paramount importance that his organisation steps in to help keep them alive.

Coronavirus’ Effect on Charities

Across Great Britain, The Health Lottery runs twelve regional and nationwide lottery draws. These draws take place every month with a portion of the revenue generated being allocated to various charities which are dedicated to getting to grips with inequalities.

Since launching back in 2011, The Health Lottery has managed to generate more than £115million for in excess of 3,0000 unique projects and charities.

It has been widely recognised, and not just by those at The Health Lottery, that these are unique times and that there has rarely been a more prevalent time to ensure that the work of charitable organisations across Great Britain is supported. Some indeed are now in desperate need of new funding.

Even the NHS itself has been in need of money raised not only by existing charities, but also by members of the public such as Captain Tom Moore. The 100-year-old raised more than £30million after he gained national exposure while walking laps of his garden with the use of his walking frame.

Bidding for The National Lottery

Back in December last year Northern & Shell, operators of The Health Lottery, announced that they were interested in bidding for the rights to organise the UK National Lottery and its associated games when the tender process finally opens this year.

Those in charge at Northern & Shell have said publicly that it was time for change within the organisation of the National Lottery after 25 years of control by Camelot.

Recently, a spokesperson for Camelot confirmed that they had received in writing a licence to run the Lottery for another six months by the Gambling Commission, taking their tenure up to July 2023.

Previously, it had been claimed that the tender process would get underway in the first half of 2020 but the race for the next licence has now been delayed for a further three months.

Originally set for March 2020, the launch date for the bidding process has been pushed back numerous times which led to stark criticism from those wishing to bid. Those looking to offer tenders have spoken out in the past to claim that delays are handing Camelot an advantage.

It remains to be seen how serious those in charge of the popular Health Lottery are when it comes to making a bid when the process finally starts.