National Lottery reports record-breaking year

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Camelot UK has reported record-breaking National Lottery sales of £8.4bn for the year ended 31 March, an increase of £468.8m.

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The company succeeded in growing sales of all six of its draw-based games to £4.7bn, an increase of £153.6m. This was primarily driven by Lotto, with a new feature introduced in November that sees around a million players win an additional cash prize of £5 for matching two main numbers in a ‘Must Be Won’ Rolldown draw. Camelot said the newest draw game in the portfolio, Set For Life, continues to “exceed expectations”, while EuroMillions grew marginally despite depressed ticket sales in some partner countries. Sales of Instants grew to £3.7bn, Camelot added.

Camelot said its rewards programme for independent retailers has “proved successful” and retailer satisfaction scores are at their highest-ever level. Commission paid to retailers was £275.9m – the equivalent of around £6,200 per store.

The company added that growth in the sales of online instant games offset a decline in scratchcard sales which were down year-on-year due to lower retail footfall, particularly in the first half of the year. This growth was driven by digital player registrations, up 2.7 million in the year. Average digital weekly spend remained broadly flat, up less than 3% – with fewer than two online instant games played per person per week on average.

In addition, the National Lottery recorded its highest ever digital sales at £3.5bn – an increase of £1bn. Mobile sales grew by £876.4m to an all-time high of £2.5bn, with the majority of these sales via The National Lottery’s apps.

Camelot chief executive, Nigel Railton, said: “We know that last year could have been very different and it reminds us we can take nothing for granted. In the year ahead, we’ve got plans to give players more reasons to play and more ways to enjoy the fantastic projects made possible by The National Lottery. For that reason, I’m more optimistic than ever.”

The record sales enabled National Lottery Distributors to award more than £1bn in funding to good causes across the UK, responding to the impact of Covid-19.