the postcode lottery format was introduced by the dutch company novamedia bv, which launched its first postcode lottery in the netherlands in 1989. novamedia now runs six lotteries using cause marketing: nationale postcode loterij, vrienden loterij and bankgiro loterij in the netherlands, svenska postkod lotteriet in sweden, people's postcode lottery in great britain and, since july 2016, deutsche postcode lotterie in germany. together, they claim to have contributed over €8.6 billion to charitable organisations around the world.