Ahead of the publication of the European Commission’s Green Paper on gambling, EL president Friedrich Stickler called on EU policy-makers to recognise the unique position of state lotteries in the EU gambling sector as well as in society in general, in particular their important contributions to the development of European civil society and to the pursuit of other public interest objectives.

Speaking at a Belgian EU presidency conference, Friedrich Stickler said that, in 2009, state lotteries from Malta to Finland contributed €22.4 billion to good causes and public budgets, an amount that has remained stable or even grown during the last years of economic crisis.

He said: “This funding is indispensable to public authorities and thousands of civil society organisations across Europe, especially in these difficult times. We think it is in the best interest of society that EU policy-makers find a solution to guarantee a sustainable future for this public utility model we stand for and which is applied in all EU member states.”

Civil society’s top beneficiaries of lottery funding in the EU are sport, mainly grassroots sport (€2 billion in 2009), charity (1.5bn) and arts/cultural heritage (0.9bn).

Science/health/research, education/youth, environment/climate change and development cooperation are other areas which greatly benefit from lottery funding.