Much of the high taxation on UK national lottery products is hypothecated to 'Good Causes' distribution funds which make grants for projects in fields such as sport, the arts and heritage. We examine the distribution of grants across 376 local authority areas in England and Wales. The proportion of highly educated people and social class composition are shown to be determinants of an area's grant receipts. The results indicate regressivity in the spending of lottery taxation.

It is unclear from the existing literature whether live soccer attendance has a positive or negative income elasticity of demand. This paper sheds light on the sign of the income elasticity using a cross‐sectional travel cost methodology applied to fan survey data from the English Premiership in 1998/99. Using social class as a proxy for income, we find that fans from the highest income groups, located in the top two social classes, are over‐represented in attendance at Premiership clubs relative to the residential zones from which they are drawn. It appears that attendance at English Premiership soccer matches is a normal good. Our results also suggest a spatial dimension to "social exclusion" of poorer fans from attendance at these games.