Answer

Actually, it was never Atlantic Lottery’s mandate to fund amateur sport.

Our mandate is, and always has been, to provide revenue to the General Revenue Fund of each of the four Atlantic provinces.

In Nova Scotia, however; profits from the sale of a designated suite of lottery tickets fund the Support4Sport program which is now the most significant source of funding for amateur sport in the province.  Since its inception, Support4Sport has raised more than $31 million to support sport in Nova Scotia.

The confusion about lottery funding sport goes back to 1973 when the federal government established the Olympic lottery to help pay for the 1976 Montreal Olympics. Canadians have been associating lottery with amateur sport ever since. But in our case, it’s not where our profits go.