The National Lottery is the United Kingdoms largest lottery. It is operated by Camelot Group, to whom the licence was granted in 1994, 2001 and again in 2007. The lottery is regulated by The National Lottery Commission. The National Lottery undertook a major rebranding programme in 2002 designed to combat falling sales. This resulted in the main game being renamed Lotto. However, the games as a collective are still known as The National Lottery. It is one of the most popular forms of gambling in the United Kingdom.
All prizes are paid as a lump sum and are tax-free. Of every pound (£) spent on Lottery games, 50 pence (p) goes to the prize fund, 28p to good causes as set out by Parliament (though some of this is considered by some to be a stealth tax[1] levied to support the New Opportunities fund, a fund constituted to support public spending[2]), 12p to the British Government as duty and 5p to retailers as commission, while Camelot receives 4.5p to cover operating costs and 0.5p profit [1]. Players must be at least 16 years of age to participate in the lottery, either in the drawn lottery games or by purchase of lottery scratch cards.
There are twelve different machines that can be used for the Lotto draw. The machine and set of lottery balls to be used is selected at random, and is announced just prior to the draw. The machines are designated Merlin, Arthur, Galahad, Vyvyan, Lancelot, Garnet, Topaz, Opal, Amethyst, Moonstone, Pearl and Sapphire. Guinevere has also been a designated machine in the past but has now been retired. Ball sets, of which there are eight, are designated by number.
The majority of National Lottery draws take place on live television. The first National Lottery show (entitled The National Lottery Live: The First Draw) was at 19:00 on Saturday 19 November 1994, and linked to Noels House Party, as Noel Edmonds drove a lorry from Crinkley Bottom to the BBC Television Centre to present a special hour long show, where 49 contestants would battle it out to become the first person to start the draw. The first number ever to be drawn was number 30. For its first few years, the TV Show took the title The National Lottery Live, and was presented mainly by Anthea Turner or the late Bob Monkhouse. Since, the National Lottery has been well represented on several TV game shows, including Jet Set with Eamonn Holmes, In It To Win It with Dale Winton, and 1 vs. 100 with Dermot OLeary, all on BBC One. Also, the Euromillions: Boom Bang show which was broadcast every Friday on UKTV Gold. Traditionally, the draws would take place in the BBC studio during the game show on a Saturday. However, in more recent years, the channel holding the lottery draw will take a break at a certain point and switch to National Lottery HQ, a designated studio for the draws. The Draws have their own five minute slot on BBC One on Wednesdays, which is hosted by various alternating presenters in the National Lottery HQ Studio.