How Much of the Postcode Lottery Goes to Charity?

The confirmed figure: a minimum of 30%

People’s Postcode Lottery states on its website that a minimum of 30% of ticket sales goes to charities and good causes, currently running at 31% (postcodelottery.co.uk, July 2026). This is a floor, not a fixed rate: the actual proportion has been at or above 30% and is published alongside the prize and operating-cost shares for each draw. On a £12.50 monthly ticket, that is at least £3.75 going to charity. On multiple tickets, the charity share scales proportionally.

This figure is among the more transparent in the UK lottery market. By comparison:

Product	% going to charity / good causes	Structure
People’s Postcode Lottery	Minimum 30% (currently 31%) of ticket price	Society lottery, licensed by the Gambling Commission
National Lottery (Lotto)	Approximately 23% to the National Lottery Good Causes fund	National lottery
Omaze UK (house draw)	£1m guaranteed minimum per draw (~17% of revenue historically, often lower)	Prize competition
Health Lottery	Minimum 20% to health-related causes	Society lottery
Hospice lottery (typical)	Varies — often well above the 20% statutory minimum	Society lottery for a single named charity

Figures for the National Lottery, Omaze and the Health Lottery are drawn from gamblingcommission.gov.uk, Omaze’s own published terms, and healthlottery.co.uk respectively (all July 2026).

Which charities receive the money?

People’s Postcode Lottery does not allow subscribers to designate where their charity share goes. Instead, funds are distributed through 20 independent Postcode Trusts, each promoting its own monthly draw and covering a different area of charitable work, including the Postcode Green Trust (environment and sustainability), the Postcode Animal Trust, the Postcode Care Trust, the Postcode Earth Trust, the Postcode Support Trust and several community-focused trusts such as Postcode Community Trust and Postcode Local Trust (postcodelottery.co.uk, July 2026).

The trusts fund thousands of charities and community projects across the UK, from large national organisations to local community groups. In 2025 alone, players raised over £236 million for good causes, taking the cumulative total raised since People’s Postcode Lottery launched past £1.8 billion. The full list of funded organisations is searchable on the Postcode Lottery charities page.

How does the rest of the ticket price break down?

Charity is only one part of the split. Postcode Lottery also publishes the prize fund and operating cost shares for every ticket (postcodelottery.co.uk, July 2026):

Destination	Share
Good causes (charity)	Minimum 30%, currently 31%
Prizes	Up to 40%, no less than 35%; currently 40%
Operating costs	No more than 35%; currently 29%

Society lotteries are legally required to give at least 20% of proceeds to good causes under the Gambling Act 2005 and Gambling Commission licence conditions. People’s Postcode Lottery’s 30% minimum is well above that statutory floor, which is one reason it is often used as the benchmark for “generous” society lotteries in press and comparison coverage.

Can you verify the donations independently?

Yes. The Postcode Trusts are registered charities and file their accounts with the Charity Commission. Search the register at register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk for the Postcode Green Trust, Postcode Animal Trust and related trusts to see their filed income and grant distributions. This provides independent confirmation that the charity share actually reaches charitable purposes, rather than relying solely on the operator’s own reporting.

This level of transparency is one reason PPL is a useful benchmark in our how much goes to charity comparison.

How does 30% compare to donating directly?

For pure charitable efficiency — maximising the amount reaching the cause — donating directly is more effective:

Giving method	% to charity
Direct donation + Gift Aid (basic-rate taxpayer)	Up to 125% of your net donation, via HMRC’s Gift Aid scheme (gov.uk, July 2026)
Payroll Giving (Give As You Earn)	100% of your gross donation, pre-tax
People’s Postcode Lottery	30% minimum of your subscription
National Lottery	Approximately 23%

The case for Postcode Lottery over a direct donation is not charitable efficiency — it is that you also get prize draw entertainment for your £12.50. Whether that entertainment value justifies the roughly 70% that does not go directly to charity is a personal judgement.

What is the total amount PPL has given to charity?

People’s Postcode Lottery states that players have raised over £1.8 billion for good causes since launch, including £236 million in 2025 alone (postcodelottery.co.uk, July 2026). This is the gross charitable contribution across all subscriptions ever sold, and it continues to rise each month as new draws take place.

Is the Postcode Lottery a good way to give to charity?

It is a reasonable way to combine a lottery subscription with incidental charitable giving. It is not the most efficient way to give to charity. For Give2Charity’s purposes, the Postcode Lottery sits at the higher end of the “prize product with charity component” spectrum — 30% is a more generous share than Omaze’s roughly 17% or the National Lottery’s roughly 23%.

For readers choosing between Postcode Lottery and other options on the basis of the charity component alone, see our how much goes to charity comparison. For the full picture of what Postcode Lottery offers versus prize competitions, see our Postcode Lottery vs Omaze comparison.