Camelot readies new online platform after strong 2013 performance

Camelot UK Lotteries said that total sales generated by the UK National Lottery reached £6,730.9m for the year ended March 31st, with the company preparing for the imminent launch of an entirely new online platform which it claims will revolutionise the way players interact with its games across all devices.

It is the second-highest annual total since the lottery launched in 1994, with results £247m below the record achieved last year (£6,977.9m) which was set in Olympics year and benefited from the one-off special sale of the EuroMillions 100 UK Millionaires Raffle that set a weekly National Lottery sales record of over £200m.

Last year also saw significantly fewer EuroMillions Rollovers than the previous year, with only half as many draws offering jackpots of over £100m.

Full Year 2013/14

Andy Duncan, Camelot UK Lotteries managing director, said: “We’re delighted to have achieved our second-highest ever sales. We always said that matching the one-off performance of 2012/13 would be virtually impossible but to have very nearly done so – and without the feel-good factor of London 2012 and with far less luck on EuroMillions – underlines what a really good set of results this is.

Revenue was boosted by a very strong second half of the year, as a result of the changes to reinvigorate Lotto. Camelot said that it succeeded in turning around the flagship game’s long-term sales decline.

“It’s great to see our flagship Lotto game back in year-on-year growth after a long period of sales decline and delivering substantially more money for the Good Causes,” continued Duncan.

Total sales of draw-based games fell by 7 per cent to £4,589.8m, which was offset by a 4 per cent increase in sales of instant play games to £2,141.1m.

In-store retail sales were down 4 per cent to £5,554.2m, accounting for approximately 83 per cent of all sales. Total interactive and subscription sales fell marginally by 0.8 per cent to £1,176.7m.

Camelot said that it operates Europe’s largest online lottery in terms of sales, with over 6m customers now using the service.

During the year, Camelot paid out £3,636.6m in prizes to players, taking the total amount of prize money paid to date to over £51bn. The company has now created more than 3,500 millionaires.

Camelot raised £1,751.1m for National Lottery Good Causes, equivalent to £33m each and every week and almost £70 per UK household.

“The work we’re carrying out to transform our digital services across all channels – including the imminent launch of an entirely new online platform that will revolutionise the way players interact with our games across all devices – has already seen sales get off to a very positive start in 2014/15 and gives us an excellent platform to deliver even more for winners and society in the years to come,” said Duncan.