Littlewoods axes Quick Pix after PO pulls plug
Littlewoods Leisure, the football pools operator, is axing its Quick Pix game after Post Office Counters pulled it from 17,500 of its outlets.
Quick Pix was launched in October 1995 as an “easy-to-play” version of the pools, using the same rules and the same jackpot of about 2m a week. It was backed with a 10m marketing spend. Players choose ten numbers between one and 58, and pay 1 to enter.
PO Counters, which was rolling out Quick Pix to 17,500 of its outlets, has confirmed that it has discontinued the game. Littlewoods refuses to confirm that the game will continue to be sold through corner shops.
A spokeswoman says: “It is there at present, though this could change in the future.”
Littlewoods also launched 10,000 “play stations” in retail outlets to make playing the pools easier, putting them in competition with the National Lottery play stations. These are likely to be dropped. But the spokeswoman adds that the Quick Pix logo is being used on mailshots being inserted in magazines.
The moves come as Littlewoods is testing a new method of selling pools, with online terminals in the William Morrison’s supermarket chain. Littlewoods is also relaunching its scratchcards under the brand name Littlewoods Scratchies.
The company is trying to claw back some of the 11m a week in sales it has been losing to the National Lottery.
