Camelot sales slide 3% YoY as the cost-of-living crisis takes hold
The rising cost of living has hit the incumbent UK National Lottery operator as it sees a fall in ticket sales and instant win games
Camelot has posted a 3% year-on-year (YoY) drop in ticket sales to £8.1bn as the operator said “consumers tightened their belts” due to the ongoing challenges from the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis.
The attributing factor to this drop in sales was the 7% decline in sales of National Lottery Instant Win Games to £3.4bn.
Running from 1 April until March 2022, the current National Lottery licence holder achieved draw-based sales of £4.6bn, which was a slight dip of £43.2m from the previous year.
Scratchcard sales also lagged behind pre-pandemic figures as sales across 44,500 retailers fell by 4% YoY to £4.7bn.
Retail spaces make up 60% of scratchcard sales, with the drop attributed to reduced footfall because of the pandemic at the beginning of the year and the change in shopping habits towards the end of the year due to the cost-of-living crisis.
It was noted that there were fewer large EuroMillions rollovers over the year. There were 15 draws with a jackpot of over £100m, which was seven fewer than 2020.
Camelot said it continued to return approximately 95% of all sales revenue to winners and good causes, with 4% spent on operating costs and 1% retained as profit.
The Canadian firm noted that, including unclaimed prizes, £1.9bn was generated for good causes over the year, an increase of £24.3m YoY, equivalent to £36m per week.
Since the launch of the National Lottery in 1994, returns to good causes have exceeded £46bn.
Nigel Railton, Camelot CEO, said: “Achieving National Lottery sales of over £8bn two years in a row while maintaining very high levels of public participation, despite the challenging and changing external environment, proves that our strategy of offering great consumer choice in a safe and convenient way continues to be hugely successful.
“It’s also a testament to the resilient, innovative and responsive business model that we’ve put in place over the last few years,” Railton added.
Railton did not comment on the ongoing battle between Camelot and the UKGC over awarding the fourth lottery licence to Allwyn in March.
At the preliminary hearing, Camelot claimed that its UK arm would cease to exist if Allwyn was awarded the licence.
Camelot did call for an expedited hearing in July but this was denied and a rough date has been pencilled in for October 2022.