Will we ever get a Big Lottery Refund?

Nearly 20 years ago the government promised – in writing – that it would pay back the £675m it raided from the lottery good causes to pay for infrastructure on the London Olympic park. It siphoned off the money over five years between roughly 2008 and 2013. 

This decision provoked outrage at the time and the then Labour government subsequently agreed a plan that the lottery would be reimbursed with the proceeds from asset sales once the Olympics were over. However, 14 years since the Games, precious few of these assets have been sold. 

We might get a refund from 2030, or maybe…never?

Successive governments have retained the commitment to refund the lottery, but have also repeatedly stated that repayments wouldn’t happen in earnest until 2030. That timescale was bad enough. But now it seems like the funds might not be repaid ever, or at least not in full. It makes me wonder: do they think we’re all just going to forget? 

The National Lottery Community Fund’s latest accounts state that “proceeds are likely to be paid from 2030, but will be substantially lower than the £675 million contribution”, which seems to be due to “uncertainty…over land sales and prevailing housing market conditions”. You can read the full text on page 167 of their 2026/27 annual report and accounts. 

So – you’re telling me that not only have we already had to wait 14 years for funds to be paid back, and we still might have to wait another four, but that they may not be paid back at all? And what does ‘substantially lower’ mean? There’s a lot of wiggle room between £0 and £675m. 

Voluntary organisations, community groups and charities should have benefited from the money that the government raided to build infrastructure on the Olympic park. £425m of that funding should have gone to grants for local charities and community groups.  

Imagine if that amount of money had been available to help communities across the UK during austerity, the pandemic, and the cost-of-living crisis? But it wasn’t. We’ll never know the full scale of the damage that was done as a result. There’s still time to put this right! 

The new Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, says he wants to deliver for every person in every postcode. But the lottery raid did the opposite – it sucked hundreds of millions of pounds away from post codes all across the UK and spent them in just one: E20. He should act now to correct this injustice by ensuring the lottery distributors are paid back in full, now. 

Here’s something you can do about it today 

Thankfully, there’s something you can do to help ensure that the government’s promise isn’t forgotten and that lottery good causes are paid back what they’re owed. As it happens, the Department for Digital Media and Culture (DCMS) is currently consulting on how lottery money should be spent in the future, until 23 September. DSC encourages you to respond to this anyway, highlighting how important lottery grants are to you and your community or cause, and how the system can be improved. 

You can find the consultation here, and can submit a response as an individual or an organisation. 

The final question in the consultation (number 28 for organisations and 33 for individuals) asks for any additional information, so give them your views on repaying the Lottery! We’ve drafted a statement you can cut and paste below, or amend to your own words:  

Q 28/33 Do you have anything else that you would like to tell us as part of this call for evidence? [click YES] 

[enter this text] 

The Government is obligated to refund £675m in National Lottery revenues that were diverted from the lottery good causes to support the 2012 London Olympics, specifically to help fund the building of infrastructure on the Olympic Park. £425m of this funding should have otherwise been available as grants for charities and community groups via what is now The National Lottery Community Fund. 

The government has repeatedly stated in writing (see the ‘London Settlement’) that this money will be paid back to the Lottery distributors with proceeds from asset sales on the Olympic Park. Yet 14 years on from the Games, the assets have yielded hardly any revenues. Recent reporting and the NLCF’s latest accounts shed doubt on whether this will ever happen. That is not acceptable. The government needs ensure that it keeps its promises and that the Lottery distributors are refunded in full and in a timely fashion.