National Lottery ticket sales up 9.7 percent to £7.9 billion

National Lottery operator Camelot said it grew ticket sales for the 2019-20 financial year by 9.7 percent – reaching a record £7.9 billion.

This is the third successive year of sales growth following Camelot’s strategic review carried out in 2017.

Returns to Good Causes went up by 12 percent to £1.85 billion over the same period, and prize money awarded increased by 9.1 percent, touching £4.5 billion.

Retail remains the largest National Lottery sales channel, accounting for nearly 70 percent of all ticket sales.  In-store sales grew by £ 1.4 percent to £5.4 billion over the 12 months to 31 March, with retailers earning £312.7 million in commission over the period.

This represents a 2.8 percent increase and an average of around £7,000 per store.

Camelot said it will be removing all Scratchcard returns charges for games closed in the March/April 2020 Scratchcard game closure in a further step to help its retail partners during the current pandemic situation.

The operator has earlier committed up to £600 million of National Lottery funding to charities and organisations to help tackle the impact of COVID-19.

Commenting on the results, Nigel Railton, chief executive of Camelot, said: “Three years on from our strategic review, we are seeing growth across all areas of the business. Crucially, our best-ever sales performance has delivered a £200 million boost to Good Causes at a time when the UK needs it most.”

Railton added that the review helped the firm to tide over the coronavirus crisis.

“Like many businesses, Camelot has seen disruption as a result of the pandemic – particularly in retail. But, thanks to a combination of the foundations we’ve laid over the last three years and some urgent interventions to respond to the current situation, our sales are currently proving resilient,” he said.

“That’s not to say there is no impact, but the business is adapting and continuing to adjust well to the changing situation.”