Britain's corner shops have helped raise more than £10billion for good causes since the National Lottery was launched in 1994, it has been announced.
As well as players' hopes of winning a prize, an average 23p of every pound spent on the lottery goes to community groups, sports organisations and heritage projects. While a growing number of people now pay the game online, many still pop into a shop to buy a ticket for a draw or a scratchcard. As well as supermarkets and other chain stores, corner shops also rely on the custom.
The £10billion milestone
National Lottery operator Allwyn, which took over from long-term incumbent Camelot two years ago, has decided to celebrate the £10billion good cause milestone played by the more than 22,000 independent retailer ticket sellers.
Of those, 1,623 shops have raised more than £500,000 through ticket sales, 469 have raised over £1million, and 28 have broken the £2million mark. Two independent shops - in Louth and West Bromwich - have each raised more than £3million for good causes, and will find out in the coming weeks as part of the campaign.
Local Retail Champions
Three retailers have been recognised as part of Allwyn's 'Local Retail Champions' initiative, with each receiving a visit from a famous face. They include Monty Dipoti, owner of Todmorden News in West Yorkshire, whose shop has raised more than £2.3million for good causes since taking over the shop 16 years ago. He was visited by Yorkshire local Nicola Adams, the first female boxer to become an Olympic champion after winning gold at London 2012, who was supported throughout her career with National Lottery funding.
Kuljit Singh, owner of Premier Grand Avenue Stores in Cardiff, has raised more than £1million for good causes during his time running the shop. He was treated to a surprise visit by Joanna Page, star of Gavin and Stacey. And Steve Weight, who has run Borough Green Stores in Kent for 32 years, has raised more than £1.4million in that time. He has had a millionaire who won on a scratchcard. He was surprised by local hero Matt Weston, double Olympic gold medal skeleton racer at the 2026 Winter Olympic Games, who grew up just down the road in Sevenoaks and benefited from funding through UK Sport's Elite Athletes programme.
Pressure on sales
Retailers get paid commission on ticket sales of 6% on scratchcards and 5% on tickets sales for draw-based games. In addition, they receive 1% commission on prizes. The celebration comes as Allwyn, which is controlled by Czech billionaire Karel Komárek, has suffered from falling lottery sales.
The company emerged victorious in a fierce competition to win the licence, ending three decades of control by previous operator Camelot, with a promise to boost money for charitable donations from almost £18billion to £38billion over the coming decade. But figures published in late August showed a 14% drop in UK sales in the three months to June.
Allwyn said the fall partly reflected the comparison with "favourable EuroMillions jackpot cycles" in the same period a year earlier. A week earlier, Allwyn said that Andria Vidler, who became UK chief executive in October 2023, would step down after agreeing with Justin King, the chairman, that it was "the right time" for her to leave. Sales have also been impacted by a major tech upgrade which took the National Lottery website and apps offline for around 24 hours while work was carried out. It comes after recent data from the Gambling Commission showed payments transferred to good causes declined to the Lottery's lowest level in eight years in the first quarter of 2026.
Alastair Ruxton, chief impact officer at Allwyn UK, said: "Most people in the UK live within half a mile of a Lottery funded Good Cause project, in no small part due to the extraordinary efforts of independent retailers who sell National Lottery tickets. The remarkable £10billion local retailers have raised for Good Causes around the country has helped train Olympic and Paralympic athletes, fund award-winning British films and our world-renowned brilliant museums and galleries, as well as supporting thousands of vital community, education and heritage projects."
