The gambling regulator awarded itself the funds to cover admin costs

It is £50m more than budgeted and money which should have been used to support cash-starved charities and community groups

Andrew Rhodes, commission's chief executive, admitted it has taken £154.8m that will be used to regulate the lottery for the next ten years

He said it will also pay for the recent bidding process which will see a Czech billionaire take over contract from Camelot

The Gambling Commission has pocketed £155 million from National Lottery ticket sales that was meant for good causes, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

In a raid that critics have branded appalling, the gambling regulator awarded itself the funds to cover administration costs – £50 million more than budgeted and money which should have been used to support cash-starved charities and community groups.

Andrew Rhodes, the commission's chief executive, has admitted it has taken £154.8 million that will be used to regulate the lottery for the next ten years, as well as paying for the recent bidding process which will see a Czech billionaire take over the contract from Camelot.

Last night Sir Iain Duncan Smith, vice-chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Gambling-Related Harm, blasted the cash grab.

He said: 'This is another example of the appalling way the lottery is run. The proportion of funds going to good causes has plummeted.'

In a letter to Dame Meg Hillier, who chairs the Commons Public Accounts Committee, Mr Rhodes reveals the costs to license and regulate the lottery spiralled to £154.8 million – more than £50 million above the initial budget of £102.9 million. 

He said that the vast sum was being drawn down from the charity funds raised by National Lottery players, but insisted it accounted for just 0.7 per cent of the more than £14.5 billion saved for good causes.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10703091/Gambling-Commission-grabs-155m-National-Lottery-ticket-sales-meant-charities.html