Sir, We heard during the London bid for the 2012 Olympics that £1.5 billion would be generated from the National Lottery run by Camelot. The new Olympic lottery game will commence shortly and is expected to raise £750 million (report, July 28).

The original lottery licence was granted in part to raise funds for small charities which would otherwise not attract national funding. Serious doubts were expressed at the time that such funding might be hijacked by the Government to subsidise shortfalls in government spending.

Lottery take-up has fallen from its original dizzy heights, and Camelot has regularly had to find new ways to retain public interest. I fear that the new game could deplete the existing funding to small charities, many of which are sports-orientated. This means of funding the Olympics may in the long run actually damage the interests of our budding sports stars.

MIKE LAUGHTON
Harrogate, North Yorkshire

From Lord Renton of Mount Harry

Sir, As Minister for the Arts in John Major’s first Government, I fought hard and long for the establishment of the National Lottery, and it was set up to fund the arts, sport and “good causes” without government interference. The Labour administration has betrayed this principle. It has regularly diverted proceeds into other projects for which ministers issue policy directives.

London will profit far more from the Olympics than any other part of Britain. For the next seven years local museums, galleries, theatres and village halls all over the country are threatened with losing the funding they have used so well.

Winning the right to hold the Olympics is a triumph, but it must not be paid for at the expense of arts and sports in the rest of the country.

TIM RENTON
House of Lords

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