Dream Numbers For Olympic Funds In Lottery Draw
19 Oct 2006

Camelot, the operator of the National Lottery, will announce an 80% leap in the funds it has raised over the past quarter for the 2012 Olympics in London.
The National Lottery will contribute up to £1.5bn (E2.22bn, $2.79bn) towards the infrastructure of the Games but the record jump from £13.4m to £24.2m over the past three months has exceeded forecasts and is more than the previous two quarters combined.

Much of the boost has come from its Dream Number ticket game.
Camelot, owned by a consortium including banknote printer De La Rue, confectionery giant Cadbury and the Post Office, aims to raise £750m from designated games. A further £340m will come from the Sports Lottery Fund and up to £410m from mainstream National Lottery games from 2009. Since the first Olympics scratchcard was launched in July 2005, £53.9m has been raised. Dream Number is the first draw-based game to fund the 2012 Olympics.

Camelot’s commercial and operations director, Phil Smith, and director of corporate affairs, Mark Gallagher, will in coming days reveal the figures to the Greater London Authority Budget Committee.

Around 70% of adults in the UK play The National Lottery regularly, generating more than £5bn in sales last year.

When the first of the games which contribute to the London 2012 funding, Go For Gold, was launched, it was the fastest-selling National Lottery scratchcard in three years.

Dream Number offers seven prize tiers from £2 to £500,000 with draws on Wednesdays and Saturdays before the main Lotto draw.