Can NHS Lotto hit the jackpot?

Tabloid expos̩s of supposedly anonymous winners; churchmen denouncing the work of the Devil; retailers grumbling about lengthening queues (while raking in the money); scratchcard-game frauds; and a national furore over the purchase of the Churchill papers. Yes, here are typical tell-tale illustrations of how deeply the National Lottery has embedded itself in the British psyche Рonly six months after its launch.

Britain’s burgeoning biggest brand has had other intriguing side-effects, too. Chief among them, it has already expanded the “soft gambling” sector beyond anyone’s wildest imagination.

Recently, we’ve seen Littlewoods Pools revolutionise its image, with an aggressive TV campaign, streamlined rules, retail playstations and enhanced jackpot prizes.

Now comes the NHS Lotto. Actually, it’s not new – a pale prototype existed in 1988 – but it might just as well be. Although not organised on the same scale as the National Lottery, it may well offer interesting competition. Trailed this week with a national advertising campaign, from June 1 it will offer a weekly 1m jackpot on odds which are substantially better than the Lottery’s. Most significantly, it will tackle Camelot in an area of perceived weakness – “good causes” – by donating 25 per cent of the proceeds to various parts of the National Health Service, through National Health trusts.

If we are to believe recent opinion polls, voters now rate investment in the health and education infrastructure as a higher priority than tax cuts. There will, of course, be those who deplore the new Lotto scheme for further encouraging Treasury “meanness”. But there is little doubt it offers an attractive proposition to punters, which will be reinforced by a second consideration. NHS Lotto claims it will donate to local causes, in direct proportion to public subscription in that area. One other novelty of the scheme is the way the televised draw will be aired. In effect, NHS Lotto will turn a mid-week, peak-time commercial on Channel 4 into a two-minute weekly “programme”.

This is a long way from saying the National Lottery faces serious competition. For a start, we shall

have to gauge how competently the revamped Lotto is launched and administrated. But the potential from this and other schemes in gestation, plus the all-too-evident sensitivity of public opinion, should keep Camelot’s management on its toes.