Camelot has reported record National Lottery sales of £4.1bn, up 2.6% year-on-year, for the first six months to 24 September.
In total, more than 32 million people played National Lottery games over the six-month period, with average weekly spend across all games and channels broadly in line with last year.
A key factor behind the record sales success over the half-year was a strong performance across draw-based games which were up 7.5% to £2.4bn. EuroMillions performed particularly strongly as Camelot capitalised on a series of huge rollover draws over the spring and summer to drive player excitement and sales.
In addition, Lotto performed well despite seeing fewer sales-driving ‘Must Be Won’ draws over the period and lived up to its millionaire-maker status by creating 71 new millionaires. Sales of National Lottery Scratchcards and online Instant Win Games were £1.6bn over the period, down 3.7% year-on-year, mainly due to reduced sales of in-store scratchcards, as a result of lower footfall and less frequent shopping trips.
Camelot continued to invest in and support National Lottery retailers over the period to achieve in-store sales of £2.2bn. The decrease of £109.5m (-4.7%) on last year reflects the ongoing difficult conditions in retail, including a drop in footfall in some sectors and a preference for infrequent, bigger shops to seek better value deals over more frequent, smaller shopping trips.
Despite this, retail remains the largest National Lottery sales channel and Camelot says it “remains committed to doing everything it can to help its in-store partners, particularly independent outlets which make up the majority of its 44,500-strong retail footprint”. Camelot’s retail partners also took home a total of £125.6m in sales commission over the period – equivalent to more than £2,800 per store.
Menwhile, online sales grew to £1.8bn, up 13% year-on-year. Within this, mobile sales grew by 19% to £1.4bn, reflecting the wider, ever-increasing shift to mobile shopping. A key driver behind this digital growth was the huge EuroMillions roll series which helped to add more than 1.1 million new online player registrations to The National Lottery’s digital player base.
In total, the National Lottery awarded £2.3bn in prize money to players over the first six months of the year – up £28.6m – and created 169 new millionaires.
The performance also resulted in the best first-half returns to good causes of £956.5m – up 8.1% on last year.
Camelot Chief Executive Nigel Railton said: “Thanks to the commitment and professionalism of everyone at Camelot – and all of our hard work over the last few years – this record half-year performance confirms that we have a very healthy and successful National Lottery that continues to benefit the whole of the UK.
“These fantastic results also demonstrate our ability to adapt quickly and decisively to fast-changing and challenging economic conditions, while maintaining our longstanding reputation for selling tickets in a socially responsible way – attributes that have helped to keep The National Lottery in excellent health at such an important time for the UK.”
The National Lottery is to launch a special seasonal ad campaign, directed by Oscar-winner Tom Hooper, about two strangers who meet on a train and become lucky in love and the lottery. As part of the campaign, The National Lottery will also be launching a “unique experience” for players – with more details to follow in the coming weeks. The National Lottery is also hosting The National Lottery’s Big Bash – a music and entertainment show at the OVO Arena Wembley for National Lottery players, which will air on ITV and ITVX over the festive period.
