TV show fails to boost Instants

Sales of National Lottery Instants have fallen to one of the lowest levels ever in the three weeks since the launch of BBC television show Big Ticket, which was intended to reverse the decline in scratchcard sales.

In the week ended April 11, sales fell to just 14m, down 700,000 on sales in the week before the gameshow launched on March 28. A spokeswoman for Lottery operator Camelot blames the fall on the holiday weekend. But sales were well down in the two weeks immediately after the gameshow launched, at 14.3m each week. Instants sales have only ever fallen below 14m on a handful of occasions.

The figures are a blow to Camelot, which had expected to see a sharp rise in scratchcard sales after the screening of the Saturday night gameshow on BBC1. It is unclear if sales of the 2 TV Dreams scratchcards have been boosted, as individual games are not measured separately. TV Dreams winners can enter the gameshow.

In a bid to revive the flagging Instants brand, Camelot’s new marketing director, Ian Milligan, who joined recently from Kellogg, has shaken up the marketing department.

Rawdon Glover, marketing manager for online, will now also handle Instants in order “to bring both brands under one roof and ensure consistency”. Robin Bowler, who was in charge of Instants, joins the corporate development division.

A new position of business development manager has been created to oversee new product development and has yet to be filled.