Lotto sales plummet to a new low

For the second time in three weeks, sales of the Saturday National Lottery main draw have fallen to a record low.

Camelot has blamed the World Cup and the Jubilee double bank holiday for the slump in sales for its main Saturday Lotto game. Sales for the draw on June 8 fell to £42.3m. This compared with £46.7m for the week before, when takings were boosted by a special £10m jackpot-only draw.

A Camelot spokeswoman says: “Lottery sales are dependent on numerous factors. The World Cup and the Jubilee bank holiday no doubt affected sales.”

She adds that “the relaunch is all about long-term investment, so it is not relevant to take just one week’s sales”.

The previous record sales low for the main game came just two weeks ago, when £43.6m of tickets were sold (MW May 30). That was one week after the high-profile relaunch of the National Lottery as Lotto, backed by a WCRS advertising campaign featuring comedian Billy Connolly.

The Camelot spokeswoman says the company has no plans to change its marketing strategy or the advertising campaign. A spokesman for the National Lottery Commission, the regulatory body which oversees how Camelot runs the lottery, says that while any decline in sales is disappointing, “the NLC will back Camelot’s judgement – our role is not to second-guess their commercial decisions. Everyone accepts that the National Lottery has been in long-term decline and that it will take time to turn it around.”