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UK National Lottery Funding Film Production
UK National Lottery Funding Film Production
Lottery revenues fund a wide variety of government services. In the US most states with lotteries use the money generated by lottery revenue for education and some states use lottery money for a wide variety of social services. The amount of money lotteries would make available to education was used as a selling point to gain voter and legislative approval for the implementation of state lotteries. On the other side of the Atlantic the UK National lottery funds a wide variety of government services. The ‘Big Lottery Fund’ has been used for a wide variety of interesting and unusual purposes. The ‘Heroes Return’ program funded by the Big Lottery Fund finances visits by World War Two veterans to former battlefields. Veterans can apply for grants ranging from £150 ($233 USD) to £5,500 ($8,570 USD) to visit the places where they fought so bravely so long ago. Veterans can be accompanied by a spouse or care giver.
In addition to this great program the UK National Lottery also funds the UK Film Council and provides £17 million pounds ($24,493,851 USD) for the production of new films. The Development Fund receives £12 million pounds from the UK National Lottery to be used over a period of three years. The fund aids filmmakers of all experience levels to develop their ideas into viable films. There are two fund programs; one for novice filmmakers and one for experienced established filmmakers.
The ‘New Cinema Fund’ is provided with £15 million pounds ($23,375,029 USD) of lottery money to be invested over a period of three years and helps both novice and established filmmakers working outside the mainstream. The fund is committed to funding the work of minority filmmakers and supports the production of eight to ten feature films a year and over 100 short films every year. The fund has supported the production of award winning films such as ‘Man on Wire’ which won an Academy Award and several films that have won awards at the Sundance and Berlin film festivals.
The ‘Premiere Fund’ invests £8 million pounds ($12,467,816 USD) a year for the production of mainstream commercially viable films for global audiences. The UK National Lottery is probable the only lottery finding the production of films. The funds give budding filmmakers the funding to bring their ideas to the big screen and have launched several careers. Every time someone purchases a ticket for the UK National Lottery they could be helping to fund this year’s blockbuster film!
The World's Biggest Lotteries
The World’s Biggest Lotteries
Lotteries are one of the oldest forms of gambling known to man. All across the ancient world lotteries were played. The construction of the Great Wall of China was partially financed through lotteries. The American Revolution was financed by various lotteries and venerable educational institutions such as Harvard and Princeton were started with lottery money. In Europe lotteries have a long and colorful history and cities and nations financed public works projects and provided aid to the poor with lottery generated revenues. It comes as no surprise that many of the world’s largest lotteries are found in Europe. Italy’s SuperEnaLotto is one of Europe’s largest and routinely offers jackpots in the hundreds of millions.
The UK National Lottery is the largest in the United Kingdom and one of Europe’s biggest. The lottery is run by gaming giant Camelot and players can buy UK national lottery tickets online. Best of all jackpots are paid in a lump sum and are tax free unlike US lotteries where taxes can easily eat up over 50% of a lotto jackpot. The National Lottery funds the ‘Big Lottery Fund’ which supports various causes and charities. The UK lotto has fourteen separate machines that can be used for lottery draws and many of the machines are named after characters in Arthurian legend such as Merlin, Arthur, Guinevere, Galahad, Vyvyan and Lancelot. The lottery is exceptionally popular and players from outside the UK can purchase online lottery tickets for the UK National Lottery.
EuroMillions is a pan European lottery and one of the world’s largest lotteries. Like most European lotteries Euromillions jackpots are tax free and paid in a lump sum. In 2006 three extremely ticket holders shared a ââ¬183,000,000($235,770,664.19 USD jackpot. Euromillions jackpots routinely exceed ââ¬100,000,000. ($128,822,882.59 USD) Euromillions lottery tickets can be bought online at the official website.
Powerball is an American multi state mega jackpot lottery. Powerball jackpots start at $20 million dollars and if there is no winner the jackpot is rolled over until there is a winner. Powerball jackpots in excess of $100 million are relatively common. Powerball winners have the options of a lump sum payout or an annuity. Many players choose the annuity because of the heavy taxation of lump sum payouts. The largest Powerball jackpot was $365 million which was shared by eight co workers in Nebraska. An agreement reached in 2010 now allows the cross sale of Powerball and Mega Millions lottery tickets in most jurisdictions.
Mega Millions is another American multi state lottery game. Tickets are $1 and jackpots start at $12 million and, like Powerball, the jackpot is rolled over until there is a winner. Mega Millions has provided the largest lottery jackpot on record anywhere in the world. In 2007 two Mega Millions ticket holders split an amazing $390 million dollar jackpot. Typically Mega Millions jackpots are paid in 26 yearly installments unless the cash option is selected. As has been mentioned most lottery jurisdictions in the US now sell Powerball and Mega Millions lottery tickets.
Spain’s El Gordo lottery is considered by some as the largest lottery in the world. El Gordo typically offers billions of Euros in prizes and the Christmas El Gordo drawings are legendary across Europe. Players can purchase El Gordo lotto tickets online at the official website or at one of the many online lottery services. Although El Gordo jackpots are not record setting the amount of money won is the largest in the world. There are hundreds of El Gordo winners every year.