Littlewoods pares retailers in 3m scratchcard relaunch

Littlewoods Lotteries has dropped 10,000 retailers from distributing its scratchcards, which it is relaunching this week with new branding and a 3m marketing budget.

The move gives Camelot the widest distribution of scratchcards, with 35,000 outlets compared with Littlewoods’ slimmed down base of 30,000 retailers.

Andrew Slamin, Littlewoods Lotteries marketing director, says the move will cut out poorly performing outlets to sell more tickets through a smaller number of retailers.

The company has also scrapped its Scratchies brand and Lukcy, which it acquired when it took over UK Charity Lotteries.

It is relaunching the scratchcards under the new umbrella branding of Littlewoods Lotto, with a Jackpot game, the British Legion Poppy Day card, and two games with a humourous slant.

In another move, the company has linked with Manchester United Football Club to launch an exclusive scratchcard called Lucky Devils, which will be sold in post offices and corner shops in London and the North-west.

Littlewoods has also tested a new scratchcard game called “Fatcats” to lampoon National Lottery operator Camelot. However, the test has been discontinued, as people thought it made Littlewoods look defensive.