UK Big Lottery Fund Honors Veterans Lotteries are common around the world. In the United States most states have their own lotteries and there are two major multistate lotteries, Powerball and Mega Millions. In the UK there is the National Lottery with some pretty hefty jackpots. In the United States most lottery revenues go towards education and some charitable causes. The Big Lottery Fund, located in the UK has combined the national lottery and awards grants to several charitable causes.

A recent news story revealed that the Big Lottery Fund in the UK is funding a program to allow WW2 veterans to return to the battlefields where they fought so bravely. The new program is known as Heroes Return 2 program and has already helped more than 7,500 veterans, spouses and widows of veterans. Grants of up to £5,500 ($9,294 USD) are available so veterans can honor their comrades in arms who served in the military from 1939 to 1945. Typical of these veterans is John Crosson who participated in Operation Market Garden in 1944 and was awarded a grant to travel to the Netherlands. Almost 1,500 British airborne troops lost their lives in Operation Market Garden. About the grant and his trip Mr. Crosson had this to say; "It was easy to apply , just some brief personal details and some information about where I wanted to go. I wanted to return to the area where the Battle of Arnhem was fought. We lost a lot of men and it was a very emotional experience for me to go back and see the meadows which I had to walk through to reach freedom. We walked in darkness and had little sleep for days. I wanted to visit the place where I eventually managed to get some sleep. I also wanted to see the home of a woman who was like Florence Nightingale. She had a house full of wounded Allied soldiers whom she cared for."

Peter Wanless, director of the Big Lottery Fund stated, "A huge debt of gratitude and recognition is owed to the men and women who valiantly fought in World War II. I am delighted we are able to offer lottery funding for them to return and pay their respects at the places they served and to attend memorial events within the UK. 'Wouldn't it be great if US state lotteries could fund a similar program to honor our veterans?

US lotteries could quickly boost lottery revenues by allowing the sale of online lottery tickets. In Europe many lotteries allow the sale of online lottery tickets and the idea has been wildly popular among lottery players. If state lotteries adopted the sale of online lottery tickets they could easily add special games to benefit veterans.