People are buying fewer lottery tickets amid cost of living crisis
28.06.2022 - 14:53
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
Lottery players have "tightened their belts” as the cost of living continues to rise, UK operator Camelot has said. Ticket and instant win game sales dropped 3% - or £283.2 million - to £8.1 billion in the year to March 31.
Camelot, which recently launched legal action against the Gambling Commission after losing the lottery’s next licence to rival Allwyn, said most of the drop was down to a 7% decline in sales of National Lottery Instants – down £240 million to £3.4 billion. The group partly put the fall down to the ending of Covid restrictions, which meant there was “greater competition for people’s attention and spend”.
But it also revealed that “growing economic uncertainty” held back instant sales as consumers came under pressure from rising cost pressures, while scratch card sales remained below pre-pandemic levels. Sales across the 44,500 retailers offering National Lottery products fell 4% to £4.7 million over the year.
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It blamed pandemic restrictions in the early part of the year, but more recently the cost of living crisis, which it said had slowed down the retail recovery as “consumers tightened their belts”. Retailers still account for nearly 60% of all sales for the group, it added.
The group said draw-based games fared better, though ticket sales still edged £43.2 million lower to £4.6 billion, with fewer large EuroMillions rollovers. There were 15 draws with a jackpot of over £100 million in 2021/22 compared with 22 the year before, it said.
Camelot added the ending of Covid restrictions has seen online sales fall by £93 million to £3.4 billion, although it added this was also due to the introduction of lower online play and wallet