Lottery Northern Ireland

National Lottery Policy and Legislation is a Reserved matter. The Department of Culture, Media and Sport has overall responsibility for the Lottery within Government including Lottery legislation and, in conjunction with the devolved administrations, sets the policy and financial framework within which the Lottery operates.

The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport issues policy and financial directions to the English and UK wide Lottery distributing bodies, apart from the Big Lottery Fund. The Minister for the Cabinet Office issues policy directions to the Big Lottery Fund.

The Lottery distributing bodies in Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland have their policy directions issued to them by the Welsh Assembly, the Scottish Government, and the Northern Ireland Assembly respectively.

28p of every £1 spent on the Lottery goes to the five good causes:

arts and film;
charitable expenditure;
health, education and the environment;
heritage; and
sport.

Since the Lottery began in 1994 around £23.8bn has been made available UK-wide, with £863m coming to Northern Ireland for around 17000 projects.

In Northern Ireland Lottery money is distributed by four independent Lottery distributors:

Each distributor has its own programme and funding priorities and makes grant decisions independently of Government.

You can get more information on how to apply for a Lottery grant through the Lottery Funding website or by telephoning the Lottery Funding Hotline on 0845 275 0000.

Details of all Lottery grants awarded can be accessed via the National Lottery Grants Search Database.