LOCAL charities will be the real winners in the Channel Islands Christmas lottery.

The top prize for the bumper draw yesterday stood at £525,000 – already £20K above last year’s final amount with almost a week of ticket sales still to go.

‘This big increase will hopefully mean a lot more money coming to local charities,’ said Malcolm Woodhams, treasurer for the Association of Guernsey Charities.

Each year, proceeds from Guernsey ticket sales are given to local good causes and, over the past five years, grants have been given to 57 charities for a variety of projects.

A total of £147,715 was distributed by the association in spring this year – £145,262 came from last year’s lottery and the association topped up the final amount.

‘There were so many applications, so many good causes we wanted to support, that we added some money to the pot from association funds,’ said Mr Woodhams.