<P> All prizes are paid as a lump sum and are tax - free . Of all money spent on National Lottery games, 50% goes to the prize fund, 28% to "good causes" as set out by Parliament (though some of this is considered by some to be a form of "stealth tax" levied to support the Big Lottery Fund, a fund constituted to support public spending), 12% to the UK Government as duty, 5% to retailers as commission, and a total of 5% to operator Camelot, with 4.5% to cover operating costs and 0.5% as profit . Lottery tickets and scratch cards (introduced in 1995) may be bought only by people of at least 16 years of age . </P> <P> A statute of 1698 provided that in England lotteries were by default illegal unless specifically authorised by statute . Early English state lotteries included the Million Lottery (1694) and the Malt Lottery (1697). These Lotteries were part of a series of financial experiments by the English government including recoinage and the foundation of the Bank of England to raise the capital available to the state . </P> <P> A 1934 Act, further liberalised in 1956 and 1976, legalised small lotteries . The UK's state - franchised lottery was set up under government licence by the government of John Major in 1993 . The National Lottery is franchised to a private operator; the Camelot Group was awarded the franchise on 25 May 1994 . The first draw took place on 19 November 1994 with a television programme presented by Noel Edmonds . The first numbers drawn were 30, 3, 5, 44, 14 and 22, the bonus was 10, and seven jackpot winners shared a prize of £ 5,874,778 . </P> <P> Tickets became available on the Isle of Man on 2 December 1999 at the request of Tynwald . </P>

When did the national lottery start in uk