Australian communities are at the heart of what we do and it’s thanks to our players, our network of over 3,800 local retailers, and adults across the country who have dreamed of what’s possible, that we’re able to give back to the communities in which we operate.

Our community partners are doing amazing work and we’re excited to keep you up to date on their initiatives and our involvement with a monthly snapshot. Check it out below! 

Support for the Daniel Morcombe Foundation continues with $300,000 to keep Aussie kids safe

July has been a busy month for the Daniel Morcombe Foundation as it continues its important work educating children across the country about personal safety. 

Recently, the Foundation hit a major milestone, with over 120,000 students from all over Australia joining Bruce and Denise Morcombe for Australia’s Biggest Online Safety Lesson — three times the number of enrollments in 2019. The lesson taught children key skills to ensure their safety both physically and in the online world. 

It’s been incredible to partner with the Foundation as it expands its programs and through Golden Casket, we were thrilled to further our support with a $300,000 donation funded from unclaimed prize money. The donation will help grow the Foundation’s child safety education programs, child safety events, and the services it provides to young victims of crime and families of missing persons. 

The donation will also support the Foundation as it gears up for its annual Day for Daniel. The national event honours the memory of Daniel Morcombe and is Australia's largest child safety awareness and education day. You can find out how to get involved here.

Human trials of the University of Queensland’s COVID-19 vaccine begin

While the country continues to respond to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the dedicated researchers at the University of Queensland are on a mission to develop a vaccine as soon as possible. 

In April, we were proud to make a $1 million donation through Golden Casket unclaimed prize money to UQ’s School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences. The donation is helping to accelerate the university’s research and in a positive development, the first round of human trials began this month. Volunteers received the first doses of UQ’s innovative “molecular clamp” vaccine on 13 July and it’s expected there will be preliminary results after about three months.

More than 130 vaccines are in the works around the world, but UQ’s work is believed to have shown great success in the preclinical stage of development. Should clinical trials be successful, a vaccine could be available in 2021 with the initial phase of large-scale production planned to take place at CSL’s biotech manufacturing facilities in Melbourne, Australia. 

We’re working closely with our partners at UQ to keep you updated on the progress so stay tuned! 

Darwin’s biggest markets reopen to help local small businesses

When the Darwin’s iconic Mindil Beach Sunset Markets were postponed because of the pandemic, doubt grew over whether they would even go ahead this year. However, after a two-month delay, we were delighted that they got the green light to reopen. 

Through Tatts NT, we’ve been a long-term supporter of the markets and are proud to contribute to a not-for-profit that gives so much to Darwin’s local community and small businesses.

The Mindil Beach Sunset Markets is the showpiece of Thursday and Sunday nights, with locals referring to it as “the best place in Australia to watch the sunset”. 

With the markets reopened and following strict social distancing rules, the 200 stalls, live music, and performances by local indigenous groups can once again inject money into the local economy and creates jobs for more than 1,000 local residents.

You can find out more about our support for the Mindil Beach Sunset Markets here.

In the 12 months to 30 June 2020, Australia’s Official Lotteries contributed more than $1.4 billion via state lottery taxes and donations to help community initiatives, such as hospitals, health research, disaster relief and education.

We can’t wait to deliver many more wins to our communities over the next month!