Mick Dennis (“Will Olympics help school sport?”, TES, August 5) clearly has concerns about the impact of the London 2012 Olympics, but I’d like to assure him that the National Lottery can come off his list of worries.
Ticket sales have not been dropping since 1997. In fact the lottery is enjoying its longest period of growth since that date. While many lotteries overseas have seen sales fall, Camelot has reported its second year of growth, with sales in 200405 up by pound;150 million to pound;4.76 billion - more importantly, that produced a pound;60m increase in returns to good causes.
Since its launch in 1994 the Lottery has raised more than pound;17 bn for good causes, including pound;3bn for sport initiatives.
As Mick notes, the Lottery has been set the demanding target of raising Pounds 1.5bn towards the costs of the London 2012 Olympics. We at Camelot are confident we can deliver, just as we have done for the existing good causes.
Phil Smith
Commercial director
Camelot Group plc
Magdalen House
Tolpits Lane
Watford
