UK National Lottery sales hit record high in 2015-16

Camelot Group has revealed that the UK National Lottery generated record sales during the 12 months to March 31, despite a decline in draw-based games.

Revenue amounted to £7.6 billion (€10 billion/$1.1 billion), up by £317 million on the previous year and an all-time high for Camelot.

Players and National Lottery Good Causes shared £6 billion during the 12-month period, with £4.2 billion going to players and Good Causes receiving £1.9 billion.

However, despite an overall increase in sales, revenue from draw-based lottery games fell from £6.2 billion to £4.6 billion.

Camelot allayed fears over this decline by noting that Lotto sales were up 14% in the second half of the year following a revamp of its setup, with the Lotto now featuring 10 extra draw balls and offering additional prizes to players.

The National Lottery ranks at just 52nd in the world in terms of per capita spend, but is also the world’s fifth largest lottery when it comes to sales.

“This was the year we saw mobile really coming into its own, which helped generate growth, along with the rebrand of our Lotto brand,” Camelot chief executive Andy Duncan said.

“Last year we gave out £4 billion of prize money, creating six millionaires a week, and raised £1.9 billion for good causes, equivalent to £36m a week.”

Sally Cowdry, consumer and retail director at Camelot, added: “Mobile is enabling us to get to know our customers whichever channel they choose to play through, so if our retail players have our app we can communicate directly to them and make sure they’re up to date with our news and relevant content.

“We’re focused on making sure our end-to-end experience is both easy and entertaining.

“We’re living in an experience economy and millennials don’t care about owning stuff, they care about having experiences; that’s their social currency.”

Related article: Camelot UK boosted by mobile growth in first half