The National Lottery, religion, and community in mid-1990s Britain

Introduced in 1994, the National Lottery quickly sparked debate amongst faith leaders, cautious about the new institution. This article traces the reverberations of religious critiques of the lottery amidst the evidence of religious organisations simultaneously accepting lottery proceeds. Questioning how secular British culture was in the 1990s, it offers a more complex picture than accounts which see the failure of faith leaders to amend the lottery as symbolic of the weakness of religion at the end of the century. Looking in detail at individual lottery players—both believers and those without faith—the article positions lottery play as a surprising instrument of community in the 1990s. Based in large part on an analysis of responses to the Mass Observation Project, it also carries implications for scholars who use this material to unpack popular attitudes at the end of the century.