Distribution of UK National Lottery grants across local authority areas

Abstract

Much of the high taxation on UK national lottery products is hypothecated to ‘Good Causes’ distribution funds which make grants for projects in fields such as sport, the arts and heritage. We examine the distribution of grants across 376 local authority areas in England and Wales. The proportion of highly educated people and social class composition are shown to be determinants of an area's grant receipts. The results indicate regressivity in the spending of lottery taxation.

Notes

¹ Most lottery games are regarded as soft forms of gambling which are rarely the source of pathological gaming behaviour. For example, only 5% of clients of a problem gambling hotline in Québec cited the (locally popular) lottery as a source of their problems (Cantin 2004).

² Research would also be appropriate on the efficiency of expenditure from lottery funds. Forrest and Simmons (2003) raise concerns that lottery expenditure is not subject to the same rigours of investment appraisal as spending by mainstream government departments.