Whenever I see anyone buying a National Lottery ticket I want to stop them and ask if they know just where their money is going The lottery money is supposed to go to charity-but it makes me angry to see some of the so-called “good causes” it’s being used to support Also, Camelot, the organizers, have made a profit of ￡108 million in five months We hear now that a lot of that money is boosting the pay packets of the company’s bosses For the past 10 years I’ve been helping to raise funds for cancer research charity called Tenovus My husband, Sandy, died from cancer 11 years ago-he was only 51, There’s been a long line of deaths in our family through cancer and it’s been devastating, I’ve also lost two sisters-in-law, my brother, Michael, my father-in-law and my father, That’s apart from several close friends The charity is 50 years old now and raises money mainly for breast cancer research It also runs a support line for the families of cancer sufferers Our local group raise money through dances, sales and coffee mornings, and all the funds go directly to cancer research In 1993 Tenovus raised ￡3 million-and half that money came from sales of our own lottery tickets at supermarket, But our income has dropped by half since the National Lottery was introduced I’m not against people playing the National Lottery, but they should think about what they’re doing The chances of winning the jackpot are so small; they might as well throw their money away The Government tells us that the proceeds are going to things like the arts and sports, but what about the National Health Service They should give some cash to that, too How can they justify spending ridiculous amounts of cash on so-called works of art-like displays of potatoes-or buying up Winston Churchill’s papers at a cost of ￡12 million So who really are the winners in the National Lottery When I think of all that money people could be donating to cancer research, I could weep It’s time people realized how charities across the country are suffering because of the National Lottery It’s disheartening and so infuriating 66 The writer seems to hope that___________