A SWANAGE shop has been praised by National Lottery bosses after raising almost £1.69million for lotto good causes.

Andy and Linda James, of Swanage News, say they’re proud to have played their part in raising the cash, which is used to support a number of charitable causes across the UK, over the past four years.

Linda told the Daily Echo: “As far as we’re aware, we’ve not made anyone a millionaire yet, but we’ve had a few big scratch card winners.”

One lucky punter scooped £10,000 on a card bought at the Station Road newsagents, while another lottery player came into the shop and told Linda they’d won £30,000 on a ticket bought there.

Linda joked: “Obviously, we cannot pay out that much here – not enough in the till I’m afraid.”

A certificate showing the £1,689,245 ticket sales total has taken pride of place above the shop counter.

Linda said: “We’re very proud.

“This is a lot of money to raise through ticket sales. The shop is incredibly busy at the moment.”

In the New Year Swanage man Aaron Smith came up trumps in the Euro millionaire super raffle after posing for a light-hearted ‘lottery winner’ photo with his brother just a few hours beforehand. Aaron purchased the ticket at Martin’s Newsagents in Swanage.

The first National Lottery draw took place in November 1994, and was rebranded and named ‘Lotto’ in 2002. Next month the price of a regular Lotto ticket will double, from £1 to £2.

Lottery bosses say the rise will create bigger jackpots and a new raffle with at least 50 guaranteed winners of £20,000 in every draw.