Sales from the National Lottery hit a record of £7.6bn in 2015/16, with £1.9bn going to good causes, including around £760m going to the Big Lottery Fund.

Andy Duncan, chief executive of Camelot, who was speaking at a media briefing in London this morning, said that a 53 per cent increase in sales across Camelot’s digital channels played a large role in the National Lottery delivering over £1.9bn to good causes in the year ending 31 March 2016.

“In the last year alone we’ve raised over £1.9bn for good causes. That equates to around £36m every week going to good causes – that’s around 150 lottery grants in every neighbourhood of the UK.”

Duncan said that of its digital channels, smartphone growth was the strongest. Sales through these devices increased by over 70 per cent year-on-year, with smartphone players raising over £175m for good causes in the last 12 months.

“I’m delighted by the fantastic year we’ve had – especially across our digital channels. With our own world-leading mobile platform and over eight million registered online players, Camelot leads the field of digital lottery innovation.”

Duncan also said that “some 80 per cent of the population of Britain will play the National Lottery in any one year”. That figure, combined with the 12 per cent Lottery Duty Camelot pays to the government and commissioned earned by its partners, Duncan said sees the lottery return some 95 per cent of its revenue – some £6bn – “back to society”.

In the past seven years, Camelot has grown total sales by almost half. This, said Duncan, allowed Camelot to raise more in the first half of its licence period – £12.4bn – than it did in each of the first two full licence periods. He also said that the lottery is now giving £11m a week more to good causes than it was in 2009.