Lottery players have "tightened their belts” as the cost of living continues to rise, UK operator Camelot has said. Ticket and instant win game sales dropped 3% - or £283.2 million - to £8.1 billion in the year to March 31.
Camelot, which recently launched legal action against the Gambling Commission after losing the lottery’s next licence to rival Allwyn, said most of the drop was down to a 7% decline in sales of National Lottery Instants – down £240 million to £3.4 billion. The group partly put the fall down to the ending of Covid restrictions, which meant there was “greater competition for people’s attention and spend”.
But it also revealed that “growing economic uncertainty” held back instant sales as consumers came under pressure from rising cost pressures, while scratch card sales remained below pre-pandemic levels. Sales across the 44,500 retailers offering National Lottery products fell 4% to £4.7 million over the year.
