6m loss as Trust scraps NHS Loto

NHS Loto, the Thursday night lottery draw played live on Channel 4 in the London region, has been axed, leaving its investors 6m out of pocket.

The controversial TV lottery game has run for two years but has only produced one 1m jackpot winner. It has been the subject of a High Court battle over its registration with the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

The NHS Loto was designed to raise funds for the charity, the National Hospitals Trust, which buys medical equipment for NHS hospitals. In the event, it raised just 1m for the Trust.

Trust chairman Sir Adrian Blennerhassett says: “In its present state and form the NHS Loto is on hold. We have not been able to attract a substantial investor and to meet the rules and regulations of running a lottery this has had to end.”

He claims that operator Pascal is continuing to search for investors but admits that its efforts are “weakening”, though he says he has held talks with Pascal about alternative lottery games.

Blennerhassett is understood to be in talks with former Pascal chairman Roger Cummings, who quit two years ago after 12 years, about developing a numbers game.