Lottery chiefs are paying out £400,000 to help asylum seekers fill in forms to claim benefits and housing.
The grant is designed to ease the "extreme problems" faced by refugees who win the right to stay here.
However, it has provoked criticism from those who say Lotto cash is being given to causes which are either trivial or which should be paid for from everyday state spending.
In recent years, The Big Lottery Fund has handed out hundreds of thousands of pounds to help battered wives in Siberia and to a pressure group for prostitutes.
Its £402,200 payment to the North of England Refugee Service is to help successful asylum seekers complete paperwork for subsidised housing and benefits.
It is part of more than £2.1million in lottery cash sent to asylum organisations over the past year.
More than £75million has been pumped into asylum causes since the lottery began 12 years ago................

£400,000 Lotto cash to help asylum seekers claim their benefits | the Daily Mail