Camelot sets new National Lottery sales record

Best-ever performance driven by resurgent Lotto, thriving Instants and accelerating digital growth

Camelot UK Lotteries Limited (‘Camelot’) today announced record UK National Lottery ticket sales of £7,277 million for the 2014/15 financial year, an increase of £546 million on the previous year. Over the same period, National Lottery Good Causes and players shared a record-breaking 
£5,712 million – underlining how, 20 years after its launch, The National Lottery is continuing to transform the lives of individuals and communities across the UK.

In the year to 31 March 2015, Camelot raised £1,796 million (excluding investment returns) – more than £34 million each and every week – for the Good Causes, taking the total delivered to date to over £33 billion. National Lottery funding has now enabled more than 450,000 awards to be made across the UK – an average of 144 grants for every postcode district in the UK. Over the same period, Camelot awarded £4,043 million in prize money to players – taking the total paid out to date to over £55 billion and the total number of lottery millionaires to more than 3,800.

Camelot’s outstanding performance over the year was driven by strong sales of its resurgent flagship Lotto game, which, following its successful re-launch in October 2013 after a decade of decline, has now enjoyed two years of consecutive growth. Camelot also succeeded in growing sales of instant play games to an all-time high of £2,628 million, an increase of £487 million on the previous year. This was driven by the launch of over 70 innovative new Scratchcards and online Instant Win games, higher prize payouts and the completion of the company’s roll-out of around 10,000 standalone terminals to satisfy untapped demand for National Lottery Scratchcards.

The work carried out by Camelot to transform its digital services has also seen sales flourish. The company’s successful launch of a major new online and mobile platform in September has revolutionised the way players interact with National Lottery games across all devices, with sales through smartphones and tablets soaring by over 60% on the corresponding period last year and now accounting for over a third of all interactive sales.

Andy Duncan, Chief Executive of Camelot UK Lotteries Limited, said:“The National Lottery is all about changing lives – for the hundreds of thousands of beneficiaries of lottery funding and for all of the winners we create. Having raised almost £1.8 billion for National Lottery projects and awarded over £4 billion in prize money to our players during the year, we’re delivering on that promise.

“Our success will continue to be driven by our focus on digital transformation, innovation, and offering our players an enhanced game portfolio and even greater convenience. We want to build on this year’s record-breaking performance, and deliver even more for winners and society in the years to come.”  

Total ticket sales and all related financial results figures for 2014/15 are subject to final audit.

Notes to Editors:

• Camelot UK Lotteries Limited is the licensed operator of The National Lottery® and is committed to raising money for National Lottery Good Causes designated by Parliament. Camelot is not responsible for distributing or awarding these funds.
• Each week, Camelot generates over £34 million for National Lottery-funded projects – in total £33 billion has now been raised and more than 450,000 individual grants have been made across the UK, the biggest programme of civic and social regeneration since the 19th Century.
• The National Lottery has so far given away over £55 billion in prizes and created more than 3,800 millionaires or multi-millionaires since its launch in 1994.
• Camelot runs the most cost-efficient major lottery in Europe, with around 4% of total revenue spent on operating costs.
• The UK National Lottery is ranked at just 51st in the world in terms of per capita spend, despite being the sixth largest lottery in the world by sales – clear evidence of Camelot’s longstanding commitment to being a responsible operator (Source: La Fleur’s 2015 World Lottery Almanac).
• Total returns to National Lottery Good Causes in 2014/15 were £1,796 million, an increase of £45 million on 2013/14.
• Total prize money awarded in 2014/15 was £4,043 million, an increase of £406 million on 2013/14.
• Total sales of draw-based games in 2014/15 were £4,649 million, an increase of £59 million on 2013/14.
• Total sales of instant play games in 2014/15 were £2,628 million, an increase of £487 million on 2013/14.
• Total in-store sales in 2014/15 were £5,937 million, an increase of £383 million on 2013/14. Accounting for over 80% of all sales, retail remains the largest National Lottery sales channel.
• Total interactive and subscription sales in 2014/15 were £1,340 million, an increase of £163 million on 2013/14. Leading the field of digital lottery innovation and e-commerce, Camelot operates Europe’s largest online lottery in terms of sales. With over seven million players, national-lottery.co.uk is one of the top 10 e-commerce sites in the UK.
• For further information on Camelot, The National Lottery and its games, please visit: www.camelotgroup.co.uk and www.national-lottery.co.uk
• Players of all National Lottery games must be aged 16 or over.