Tote Board's Revenues and Donations

Date: 8 July 2013

Parliamentary Question from Mrs Lina Chiam:

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance (a) how much revenue was collected and donated by the Tote Board in each of the past five years; and (b) how much funds does it have currently.

Reply by DPM and Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam:

Between FY07 and FY11, Tote Board’s surpluses, in other words revenues that are available for donations, totaled $3.4 billion. That makes an average of $680 million per year.

The Board had approved a yearly average of $572 million in donations from FY07 to FY11, or about 84% of its annual revenue available for donations.  The annual breakdown is presented in its annual reports which are tabled in Parliament. The data is also now presented for convenience on Tote Board’s website.

The amount that Tote Board donates varies significantly from year to year, as Tote Board evaluates every project to ensure that its support is merited. Tote Board donations are ultimately dependent on the number and quality of the projects and programmes that seek funding.

Tote Board has about $3.6 billion available funds as at 31 March 2013 (this latest position has yet to be audited). This sum will enable Tote Board to meet its outstanding funding commitments of $2.3 billion. The Tote Board continues to look out for meritorious projects, and we welcome the community to come forward with proposals.