IT ADDS UP FOR TEACHERS

The Canadian teachers who own National Lottery operator Camelot have scooped more than £500million since buying it.

The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan bought Camelot in 2010 for nearly £400m. They have made more than that in dividends since, including a £53m payout last year.

Accounts for Camelot UK Lotteries Ltd show profits dropped from just under £88m to £84.4m in the year to March.

The company, which won its first licence to run the lottery in 1994, has made almost £640m since 2010 alone.

Lottery sales rose slightly to £6.95billion last year, but prize money dipped to £3.92bn, including the £4m which transgender taxi driver Melissa Ede won from a scratchcard.

The other big winner was the Treasury, which takes 12% of lottery sales in duty.

It netted another £834m last year, taking the total since 2010 to £7.3bn.

The National Lottery has raised £38bn for good causes since it began.

Camelot recently announced plans to launch a new game giving winners monthly cash for life in a bid to boost sales.

The Ontario Teachers’ Plan has 323,000 working and retired teachers and controls £113bn of assets.