New study reveals the most lottery-funded places in Wales

National Lottery raised £32,498,615 for good causes in Wales so far this year – but which areas have benefitted the most?

New research has revealed that Cardiff, Swansea and Carmarthenshire are the most lottery-funded places in Wales.

Since 1994, the National Lottery has sponsored £2,091,516,903-worth of projects in Wales. Cardiff absorbed most of these funds (£551,519,509), followed by Swansea (£144,577,229) and Carmarthenshire (£143,528,139). Meanwhile, Blaenau Gwent only ever received £31,473,261, this being the least funded place in Wales.

This year alone, Wales received £32,498,615 from the National Lottery, according to a study conducted by Solitaired.com, based on the latest government statistics. The single biggest lottery-funded project in Wales this year so far was worth £5,000,000 for the CIMSPA in Charnwood. Awarded on 4 August, the government data describes the project’s “main activity as Sport participation and capacity building”.

So far, a total of £46bn from the National Lottery has gone towards good causes across the UK, in areas such as education, environment, health, arts and sport.

Heritage is the sector in Wales that benefitted the most from National Lottery grants over the past 28 years.

The latest official government data suggests that this area in Wales received a total of £432,969,063.

Arts is the second most lottery-funded sector in Wales, with £400,355,284-worth of sponsorship since 1994.

Health, Education, Environment and Charitable Expenditure causes follow closely behind, benefitting from £361,247,722 over the past three decades.

Cardiff received the biggest ever lottery grant in the region. On 15 March, 1997, the National Lottery awarded Millennium Stadium Plc £46,360,000 for a single project.

Nationally, Westminster has benefitted the most from National Lottery funds, amounting to a whopping £1,439,592,279 since 1994.

All these funds come from a proportion of ticket sales, as well as any unclaimed prizes within 180 days. A Set for Life winner lives in Cardiff, who is yet to claim their prize until October 15th. Between October and December, 2021, UK residents claimed around £38m less than the previous quarter, which was added as returns to good causes.

The latest national survey carried out by the Gambling Commission suggests that 43% of adults took part in some form of gambling activity in the four weeks prior to the survey. This constitutes 4% less than before the pandemic. In the year ending March 31st, 2022, over £8bn-worth of tickets have been sold, of which almost a quarter went to various good causes across the UK.

A spokesperson for Solitaired.com commented on the findings: “If you ever lost a winning lottery ticket, there is comfort in knowing that your prize would have gone to a good cause, quite possibly in your own town.”

Here is how much funding from the National Lottery every local authority in Wales has received since 1994 until the end of June, 2022:

There are seven lottery-funded grants currently available for eligible entities in Wales, with a maximum funding amount of £10,000,000. Another seven grants are available nationwide for film- and heritage-related projects, some of which have no maximum funding limit.

The research was conducted by Solitaired.com, a free, browser-based card game platform with more than 500 games available to play.

(Lead image: Linda Spashett / Creative Commons 2.0)