UK marks lottery's first decade

A firework display helped mark the anniversary at Tate Modern

Celebrations to mark 10 years of the National Lottery have taken place across the UK on Saturday.

More than 150 lottery-funded venues in cities including Cardiff, Glasgow and Belfast have hosted events or opened their doors for free.

The main events were held at London's Tate Modern art gallery, which was set up with £53m from the lottery.

The celebrations included a Lotto birthday draw in the evening, with six people sharing the £10m prize money.

The BBC's arts correspondent Torin Douglas said even on its anniversary the Lottery was attracting controversy, with charities including the National Trust voicing fears that heritage, the arts and charity projects are being squeezed in favour of health, education and environment schemes.

But Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell, who attended the event at Tate Modern, said Lottery money was being spent on projects that players wanted to support.

Now we face ongoing questions about the future of the lottery National Trust director general Fiona Reynolds How lottery transformed UK

Cornwall's environmental Eden Project, which received £55.4m from the lottery, hosted a winter festival while Wiltshire's famous stone circle, Stonehenge, opened free to the public.

In Belfast, the Odyssey Arena hosted events including an exhibition looking at some of the other lottery projects in Northern Ireland.

The National Trust has warned some of Britain's most popular heritage sites could close if lottery money is taken away.

It says for sectors such as culture and heritage there is no equivalent alternative funding.

Fiona Reynolds, the National Trust's director general, said the government had been talking about the way lottery cash was distributed.

"We celebrate what the lottery has been able to achieve on the nation's behalf, but we do so with real concern about the extent of the government's commitment to the historic environment," she said.

Awards were presented such as the Helping Hands Amazing Space

"Now we face ongoing questions about the future of the lottery, which raises enormous issues for the future funding of the nation's heritage."

Ms Jowell told the BBC any decisions about how lottery money is divided would be made in 2009.

But she said the government had to make sure that people's priorities were reflected in the way money was allocated.

"People in this country value their heritage and love their heritage and while that continues there is absolutely no threat to the lottery share for heritage," she said.

"I think that to sound a note of doom today, which is a day for celebration, is just misplaced."

Lottery operator Camelot transfers 28% of money spent on lottery tickets and scratchcards to the National Lottery Distribution Fund.

The big ones tend to hit the headlines, but there's lots of other worthwhile causes that are giving benefits Adrian Mann, Camelot

The fund is split among six bodies with responsibility for allocating money to "good causes", including heritage, sport, education and the arts.

Organisations apply to the relevant distribution body for lottery funds.

Adrian Mann, from Camelot, told the BBC many smaller projects had also benefited, but tended not to get the same publicity.

He added: "Our figures show that over 90% of lottery-funded projects have actually received less than £100,000.

"The big ones tend to hit the headlines, but there's lots of other worthwhile causes that are giving benefits the length and breadth of the country."

The National Lottery launched on 14 November, 1994.

Jackpot share

Since then, the game has created more than 1,700 millionaires and raised more than £16bn for worthy causes.

On Saturday the winning numbers in the Lotto birthday draw were 5, 17, 23, 26, 42 and 48.

Three ticketholders shared the night's £7.8m Lotto jackpot, each winning £2,608,128, organiser Camelot said.

The winning numbers were 2, 26, 39, 40, 36, 29 with the bonus ball 10.

Set of balls two and draw machine Pearl were used.

No tickets won the Lotto Extra jackpot where the numbers drawn were 1,12, 31, 32, 39 and 45.

Wednesday's Lotto Extra jackpot is an estimated £2.7m.

Three tickets won the £250,000 top prize in the Thunderball game, where the numbers drawn were 2, 9, 16, 19 and 20 with the Thunderball 11.