The National Lottery: how does it work?

The National Lottery began in November 1994. Since then, it has raised over £43 billion for good causes.

There are four parties that contribute to running the Lottery:

• the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport;
• Camelot Group plc, the current operator;
• the Gambling Commission;
• the individual distributing bodies of Lottery money.

The minimum age for playing Lottery games is 18.

Competition for the next Lottery licence

The third licence to run the Lottery came into force in February 2009 and was due to expire in 2023. The Gambling Commission launched the fourth licensing competition in August 2020.

The original timeline for the competition would have seen the award of the next licence announced in October 2021, with a transition period to July 2023, and the fourth licence beginning in August 2023. However, in August 2021, the Commission said that, following “representations” from applicants, the timeline had been amended. The third licence has been extended by six months. The fourth licence will begin in February 2024. The Commission intends to announce the preferred applicant in February 2022.