Lottery to increase help for Olympic fund

The National Lottery is contributing a further 675m to the London 2012 Olympics after Tessa Jowell, the culture secretary, confirmed the budget had rocketed to 9.3bn. It will bring the Lottery’s contribution to the games up to 2.2bn…

The National Lottery is contributing a further £675m to the London 2012 Olympics after Tessa Jowell, the culture secretary, confirmed the budget had rocketed to £9.3bn. It will bring the Lottery’s contribution to the games up to £2.2bn.

The Lottery will transfer £425m from the Big Lottery Fund after 2009, when the licence is will be renewed. It is in addition to the £410m it has already committed. The remaining £250m will come from other good causes.

Jowell says: “The original Memorandum of Understanding made clear that should we have the right to host the Games we would call on the lottery to help fund them. That principle is widely accepted. But I am determined to ensure that this temporary diversion from the existing good causes to the Olympic good cause is done with the least possible disruption.”

A spokesman for Lottery operator Camelot says: “The National Lottery raises around £1.4bn for good causes every year – so Camelot is confident that the lottery will be more than able to deliver its share of the Olympic funding plan with no difficulty whatsoever.”