BEING part of the UK means sharing the benefits of the millions of pounds raised each year by the National Lottery, Gordon Brown will say today.
The former prime minister will use a talk at the Borders Book Festival to highlight the £2.5 billion in lottery funding that Scottish charities and good causes have received since 1994.
Mr Brown, MP for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath, will tell an audience in Melrose that Scotland gets £97 per head in Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) grants every year compared to the UK overall, which receives £72 per head.
He will say: "Seventy per cent of Scots play the lottery - around 1.6 million Scottish households - and yet the prizes are as large as they are because 17 million households across the UK contribute to the pool, creating huge economies of scale throughout the country.
"No-one says that lotteries will cease altogether in an independent Scotland - but the bigger the pool and the bigger the stage, the bigger the number of players, the bigger the prizes and the bigger the grants to Scottish organisations."
The HLF has provided £600 million worth of funding to more than 3,300 Scottish projects since 1994, according to Mr Brown.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: "Only independence will give the Scottish Government the full levers to maximise economic benefit for the people of Scotland.
"The National Lottery will continue to operate in an independent Scotland and we will ensure that Scotland continues to receive its fair share of funding.
"In an independent Scotland, all decisions about the distribution of good cause money will be made in Scotland to ensure that the needs of local communities here are met."
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