Chariot chair Tim Holley, managing director Craig Freeman and administrative director David Gray left their posts following the financial crisis which saw an emergency business plan drawn up, placing 53 million of the company’s shares at 5p just two months after it floated.

The exercise raised £2.7 million for the organisation which faced a huge funding shortfall after is sold just 1.7 million tickets in its first four weeks.

In just one month of operation the lottery had already eaten through the majority of the £15 million raised for its launch.

The lottery was plagued with problems from the start, when high demand for the online ticketing service at its launch caused a computer failure pushing back the first draw by four hours.

The National Lottery has also come under criticism this month for diverting funds from good causes to support the 2012 Olympics. The NCVO is now calling for a reduction of the 12% tax on National Lottery tickets to just 9%, allowing the government to spend the 3% difference to fund the Olympic Games.

Plans to introduce a tick box system to the National Lottery, allowing players to have a say in which causes receive funding, have also come under fire from NCVO for potentially preventing smaller, less well publicised good causes from receiving lottery cash.

"We welcome plans to increase public involvement in the National Lottery. However, it is important that such an approach does not lead to the erosion of funding to good causes working in less well known or understood areas," said policy officer Mubeen Bhutta. "Any measures to increase public involvement must also improve the public's awareness of where the money to good causes actually goes."