Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to support lotteries.

We are committed to ensuring both society lotteries and the National Lottery are able to thrive and am currently considering responses to the recent consultation on reforms to society lotteries. The consultation seeks to achieve a balance between enabling growth in the society lottery sector, while also protecting the unique position of the UK-wide National Lottery, which has raised over £39 billion for good causes since it started in 1994.

In terms of supporting the National Lottery, work has begun with the Gambling Commission on preparations for the next licence competition, and this year is an important one for the National Lottery in marking its 25th Anniversary. I am looking forward to supporting those celebrations.