A 10 per cent increase in sales of lottery tickets and scratchcards has put Lotterywest's total end-of-financial-year community contribution at a record $191 million, Government Enterprises Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich has announced.
A 10 per cent increase in sales of lottery tickets and scratchcards has put Lotterywest's total end-of-financial-year community contribution at a record $191 million, Government Enterprises Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich has announced.
The full text of a Ministerial announcement is pasted below
Lotterywest has announced a record $191 million end of financial year contribution to the Western Australian community, thanks to Western Australian lottery players.
The results announced today by Government Enterprises Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich, show a 10 per cent increase in lottery sales from last financial year to $599 million.
"The big winners are Western Australia's hospitals and public health services, receiving 40 per cent of the profits of all Lotterywest product sales, which is a total of $92 million, $10 million more than last year," Ms Ravlich said.
"Other winners include WA sport, with $12 million going to sporting groups and associations across the State. This funding will also go towards supporting athlete development and training at the WA Institute of Sport.
"The arts in WA will also receive $12 million to support a variety of groups and projects including the WA Ballet, The West Australian Opera and the West Australian Symphony Orchestra."
Lotterywest's long-standing support of the State's film funding and development agency, ScreenWest and the Perth International Arts Festival has continued, with each receiving $4.16 million.
Lotterywest's unique business model also means a wide variety of Western Australian not-for-profit community organisations have also directly benefited from Lotterywest product sales.
As the only Australian lottery with its own in-house direct grants program, Lotterywest has given $75 million to 1,067 different organisations.
The smallest amount granted was $1,000 to the Busselton family Playgroup for new chairs and an outdoor cover to protect the playgroup's 'Thomas the Tank Engine' outdoor climbing toy.
The biggest, $3 million to Geraldton Lotteries House Board of Management, was for the new 'Geraldton Lotteries House', which will accommodate a variety of not-for-profit community organisations providing services to the area.
The most popular product with West Australian lottery players continues to be Saturday Lotto with sales of $302.3 million, an increase of 3.8 per cent on last year. The second strongest performer in Lotterywest's sales portfolio, Powerball, generated sales of $95.9 million showing a slight decline of 1.5 per cent.
OZ Lotto was up 12.5 per cent on last year to $66.3 million. The new Monday/ Wednesday Lotto game reported steady sales of $26.4 million in its first full year of sales.
Scratch'n'Win sales were also strong with Lotterywest's instant product recording sales of $97.3 million, up 16.6 per cent on $83.4 million last financial year.
Lotterywest sold 98 Division One winners in the national Lotto games winning a total of $139.5 million. The biggest of these winners was a couple from the Goldfields who won $25 million on July 4, 2006 playing OZ Lotto.
The Minister said Lotterywest's annual reporting showed a win for all Western Australians.
"The whole reason we sell lottery products in Western Australia, is to raise money for the benefit of our community," she said.
"Lotterywest's biggest sales asset is that WA players know profits from sales are being used for good work."
