Live televised National Lottery draws to be axed

National Lottery draws will longer air live on BBC One from next year, after shifts in consumer habits prompted Camelot to moves its results broadcast to the corporation’s iPlayer streaming service.

Under a new three-year deal starting from January 2017, coverage of Camelot’s lottery results will be available across on-demand platform BBC iPlayer and its online site.

The BBC will continue to provide National Lottery draw results via Red Button and Red Button+ services, as well as after its news programmes on Saturday nights and midweek on BBC One.

In addition, Camelot announced it would stream its draws live on Facebook from 1 January 2017, in a move designed to appeal to a new audience who may traditionally not have watched the results show on TV.

“As consumer habits show an unrelenting shift towards digital platforms, we’re embracing these changes in players’ results-checking habits – providing content that they can access at all times, across multiple different touch-points,” Camelot’s digital director, Tim Copper, said.

“But it’s also great that we can continue to provide a service to those loyal BBC One viewers who want their lottery results available at a regular time as they enjoy their favourite BBC shows.”

Since January 2015, BBC iPlayer has delivered over 200 million viewing requests for programmes every month.

Recently, Camelot encountered technical issues to its flagship National Lottery app, which incorrectly identified winning tickets as losers.

The lottery operator restored the app to the Apple App store almost a month after it was deactivated, but still faces potential financial penalties following ongoing Gambling Commission investigation.