National Lottery charity donations crash to near-decade low

National Lottery charity donations have tumbled to a near-decade low, dealing a fresh blow to operator Allwyn’s hopes of holding onto the licence.

In the 13 weeks from April to the end of June, contributions to so-called good causes crashed by nearly a quarter to £377.2m from the same period last year.

It was the lowest figure since the first financial quarter of 2017, leaving Allwyn’s ambitious financial pledges looking increasingly unattainable at a time of growing government scrutiny.

The latest figures were flattered by an £18.9m contribution from unclaimed prizes, interest and other payments.

Donations were dented by a steep £170m drop in sales of Euromillions tickets and a £43m fall in sales of online instant win games from the equivalent period in 2025. Sales declined by £261m in total.

The setback comes amid increasing ministerial concern about Allwyn’s faltering stewardship since it took over the licence in February 2024, after three decades under Camelot.

The Telegraph revealed last month that Lisa Nandy is pushing for the lottery to be among a slew of struggling companies targeted for nationalisation under Andy Burnham.

Following a pledge to introduce more “public control” of critical companies, the Culture Secretary is hoping that Mr Burnham will also use state control to resolve ongoing problems with Allwyn.

The lottery is the single biggest contributor to Britain’s charity sector, and its donations fund sport, arts, heritage, health, education and environmental projects.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has just launched the first review in more than 20 years into how the money from National Lottery ticket sales is spent, with Ms Nandy remarking that the model was “showing its age”.