<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> 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>
when did the national lottery start in uk
when did the national lottery start in uk
1993
1993