UK national lottery ticket sales hit by cost of living crisis

UK - The company, which has launched legal action against the Gambling Commission after losing the lottery’s next licence to the Czech-owned newcomer Allwyn, posted a 3% drop in sales to £8.1bn in the year to 31 March. It said most of that fall was caused by a 7% decline in sales of National Lottery Instants to £3.4bn.

“This was largely down to greater competition for people’s attention and spend after the lifting of Covid restrictions, followed by growing economic uncertainty over the latter part of the year,” Camelot said.

Camelot blamed pandemic restrictions in the early part of the year which affected footfall and shopper frequency, but more recently the cost of living crisis, which it said had slowed down the retail recovery as “consumers tightened their belts”.

With Covid restrictions ending, online sales fell 2.6% to £3.4bn, although this was also due to the introduction of lower online play and wallet limits for potentially at-risk players.